Making Lullabies
by dcatpuppet
Summary: Up Late with Miss Piggy is on for season 2, and a certain keyboardist and saxophonist decide to expand on their love for each other. But due Bunsen Honeydew's invention backfiring, Zoot becomes pregnant! With the pressure to put on a good show and keeping their relationship hushed from the media, will Dr. Teeth and Zoot survive the next 9 months to see their little bundle of joy?
1. Note from the Author

Note from the Author: Okay, this Muppet Canon works with The Muppets ABC show, while my other stories, like the Muppet Oneshots, go along with the Muppet Show canon and the canon based on my fanfiction Offed, so basically The Muppets ABC never happens in that canon, mainly because, I didn't expect the Muppets to get another TV show in 2015.

So...Clifford hasn't shown up in the Muppets ABC, but considering that some Muppets Tonight characters did make appearances in the season finale, I'm planning on adding him to the plot of this story at some point, which will hopefully happen in the actual show eventually, along with Zondra since Chip is in the mix and he needs to reunite with his former Gorilla Television coworker.

And just so you know. Dr. Teeth/Zoot (this story is pretty much centered around them!) and Clifford/Lips will still be ships, so no complaints!

As for the Kermit/Miss Piggy scenario, I'm not adding that into this canon until it's actually confirmed in the show. Which will hopefully happen.

Remember to **#RenewTheMuppets** to see a season 2!


	2. Back after Season Hiatus

On the set of Up Late with Miss Piggy, all the Muppets were reuniting with their friends after their long season hiatus, asking each other what they did over the last few months.

Basically Gonzo and Camilla went to China, where Gonzo bungee jumped off the edge of the Great Wall and got escorted off the premises, but they managed to get a few good pictures;

Fozzie and Becky used this time to work on their relationship, which was going really well;

Scooter had taken the time to sign up for knitting and crocheting classes, mainly because he didn't want to being around his home too much since his mother and Ken were spending more time together;

Rizzo and Yolanda went to New York to check out the city and to meet up with a few old friends of theirs that they used to work in a diner with (Muppets Take Manhatten reference);

Pepe went to France to check out the beautiful "French womens", as many people have expected;

and as far as anyone knows about how Kermit and Miss Piggy's trip to Thailand went, it seemed like it went okay, but whether sparks flew between the pig and the frog, nobody could tell.

As for what the Electric Mayhem did for their long vacation, well, the only members chatting up with their friends were Floyd Pepper, Janice, Lips and Animal, mostly about how they went to Las Vegas for two weeks to do a couple a gigs and Animal got involved in a poker game in some casino that nearly resulted in him gambling the band's instruments and van away. The band's leader and keyboardist, Dr. Teeth, and saxophonist, Zoot, were nowhere to be found.

The two Muppets were sitting in their hangout area, relaxing a bit before having to get back to work. Dr. Teeth glanced at the blue saxophonist, who was cleaning his saxophone, as expected since Up Late with Miss Piggy was going to air later that evening. Despite how zoned out Zoot seemed to be sometimes, he always seemed to keep his focus when doing anything that involved his saxophone, whether he was playing it, tuning it, or cleaning it. But that wasn't the only thing Zoot could easily focus on from time to time…

"Well, that was quite a vacation in Vegas," Dr. Teeth said, starting a conversation.

"Yeah, a lot of gigs too. I'm surprised that a lot of casinos were so eager to book us," Zoot said, nodding, not looking away from his work.

"But it wasn't the gigs that I liked best," Dr. Teeth admitted.

Zoot stopped his polishing and looked up at the keyboardist, "Really? What did you like best?"

"Guess," Dr. Teeth said, sitting closer to the man and putting his hand on Zoot's leg.

The Muppet's light blue skin turned to a crimson shade and he cleared his throat. "Oh...that," he muttered. "That...was really nice."

"Yeah, and it would've been incredible had Lips not banged his fists on the door to our room, screaming about Animal and his gambling," Dr. Teeth stated.

"Yeah, talk about a mood killer, and you were close to getting my shirt off too," Zoot sighed.

For a long while, Dr. Teeth and Zoot had been dating behind the scenes of the Muppets works. It all started with Zoot having a simple small crush on Dr. Teeth back in the old Muppet Show days, and when he actually informed him of his feelings, Dr. Teeth...well, he reacted extremely well. And by extremely well, he pinned Zoot against a wall and gave him the most passionate of kisses. The two kept their relationship secret from most of their coworkers, the only people who actually knew being the rest of the Electric Mayhem and a friend of theirs named Clifford, who promised to keep their mouths shut until they were ready to come out to the rest of the crew.

When gay marriage got legalized in the US, Dr. Teeth saw it as the perfect opportunity to come out to the rest of the Muppets, but Zoot still wasn't completely ready to do that yet, mostly worried that some newspaper or something might create scandal about it, so Dr. Teeth agreed to wait until the saxophonist was ready. Dr. Teeth had also been planning on proposing to Zoot, since they had been together for so long, but he was still waiting for the ring he ordered to come in. Once it came in, he'd pop the question.

"You know, while we're still all alone in here, we could…" Dr. Teeth said, brushing his hand gently on Zoot's face.

Zoot turned scarlet and raised his hand to touch Dr. Teeth's hand on his face, silent for a few moments, before smirking and saying, "Sure."

Zoot set his saxophone aside, moved closer to Dr. Teeth, and pressed his lips to the other Muppet's. As expected, Dr. Teeth's lips were very soft and smooth, and he melted into the kiss. Dr. Teeth wrapped his long arms around the blue Muppet's waist, pulling him closer. Zoot put one of his arms around Dr. Teeth's neck and ran his free hand through his lover's beard. The two Muppets moaned against each other's mouths, starting to feel aroused a bit. Dr. Teeth pulled Zoot onto his lap, making the saxophonist jump in surprise, but that didn't stop their sweet moment. They hoped this would last for a while before someone needed to speak to one of them. Sadly, that was not the case today.

At that moment, Kermit had asked Floyd to get Dr. Teeth and Zoot for the morning meeting to discuss the plan for tonight's show, and Floyd had just entered the room to see the two Muppets kissing. When each of the band members entered the room to see Dr. Teeth and Zoot having a "groovy moment", they each do a different thing; Janice would quietly leave them to continue, respecting their privacy; Animal would enter for a few seconds and then leave, also respecting their privacy, surprisingly, and Lips would stay the room and read a book until Zoot or Dr. Teeth notices him and questions how long he had been sitting there. As for Floyd, he would do something that would fall under the category of "smartass".

The bassist said, "Didn't you have plenty time to do that in Vegas?"

Zoot quickly pulled away from Dr. Teeth and shouted, "Floyd!"

Floyd laughed at his friend's annoyed expression and said, "Have I ever told you two how much I love doing that?"

"Yes, every time," Dr. Teeth said, shaking his head.

"The Frog in Chief needs you two at the morning meeting to discuss tonight's show," Floyd explained, before leaving, still laughing.

"We need to replace those beads with a lockable door," Dr. Teeth stated.

"That's a good idea, man, but we might have to take that up with the people who made those beads," Zoot warned his partner.

"Oh right; Lips and Janice," Dr. Teeth said, knowing the guitarist and trumpeter wouldn't want to take their groovy bead door taken down.

"Better get to that meeting," Zoot said, packing up his saxophone.

"Yeah, we'll continue with our romance later," Dr. Teeth said, getting up from his seat and giving Zoot a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room, with the saxophonist following close behind.

In the meeting room, the Muppets were still talking amongst themselves, but this time, the subject was on Kermit and Miss Piggy's relationship.

"Deadly, you're one of Piggy's friends. You have to know something," Yolanda asked the dragon.

"She didn't tell me about her trip, but I could tell she got a lot of shopping done. She brought back 3 boxes of silk clothes," Uncle Deadly stated. "It's even worse than when she brought back all those ponchos from Argentina."

"I liked those ponchos. They gave me a sort of calm when I wore them...then again, a lot of soft materials seem to calm me, like velvet, wool, my baby blanket…" Scooter started saying when Kermit entered the meeting room.

"Good morning everyone. I believe you all had very good vacations," Kermit said.

"Yeah, the scenery I saw from the Great Wall of China was incredible, and it was even more incredible when I was hanging upside down off the edge of it," Gonzo stated.

"You didn't get arrested for that did you?" Kermit asked the whatever.

"Nah, it was my first offense and I was a tourist so they went easy on me. Also, I was the first person to actually do that so the security was very impressed!" Gonzo explained.

"Okay," Kermit said, not actually surprised to hear this. Gonzo has been known to do some crazy stunts on his vacations and nothing really shocked the frog anymore.

"So Kermit, how was your little vacay?" Yolanda asked.

"It was fun to be in Thailand, seeing the monuments, experiencing the culture, meeting the people. Makes me want to go back there someday," Kermit stated. "But I'll tell you all about that after work because tonight is the season premiere of the show and we really have to wow the audiences tonight."

"Wait, what happened with Pig-?" Scooter started asking when Kermit cut him off saying, "And due to the fact that our branding guru Paché quit under 'unknown' circumstances, the network is sending us a new person to help us with our show."

"Who is it?" Fozzie asked.

"I don't know, they never told me a name," Kermit admitted.

At that moment, a female Muppet walked into the room. She had ebony hair that was short and stuck out in a couple different directions, black eyeliner and lavender eyeshadow on her eyes, a narrow nose, skin so pale it was almost white, and wearing some sort of purple and black punk/Goth ensemble with dangling silver earrings.

"Are you guys the Muppets?" She asked, looking at a slip of paper.

Upon seeing her, Bobo and Rizzo went into a bit of a freak out and quickly hid behind the nearest Muppet, Bobo hiding behind Sam the Eagle and Rizzo taking cover behind Gonzo.

"Rizzo! Bobo! What's the matter with you?" Kermit asked the bear and rat.

"What's the matter is the fact that we know her and we know she hates bears and rats, me and Bobo mostly," Rizzo stated.

"Pardon?" The girl Muppet asked.

"Hey sister, what do you got against us rats?" Yolanda questioned the Goth, a little peeved to hear what Rizzo said.

"Oh wait, I know what's going on. Boys, who are you assuming I am?" The new person asked the rat and bear.

"Uuuh," Bobo stammered. "Darci Brill?"

"Case closed. I figured you knew her since you were both on Muppets Tonight together," Zondra said. "Darci's my twin sister. I'm Zondra Brill, and just so you boys know, I hold nothing against bears or rats."

"Oh, Zondra! I think Darci may have mentioned you once," Rizzo said, stepping from behind Gonzo, feeling more safe around the Goth.

"Yeah, sorry about freaking out. Darci kind of scared us back in the day, what with her insanely one-sided songs," Bobo explained.

"I assumed that. She's been getting a lot of backlash for it lately, so she's trying to write about something that people won't bash her about," Zondra stated.

At that moment, Chip the IT guy entered the room, gripping his laptop, saying, "Sorry I'm late. I was stuck on a very difficult level of Star Wars Battlefr-" until he spotted Zondra.

Upon seeing her, his mouth dropped open and to everyone's shock, he dropped his laptop, something the geek never did!

"Zondra?! Is that you!?" He asked excitedly.

"Chip! I didn't know you worked here," Zondra exclaimed.

"Yeah! I'm the IT guy here," Chip stated.

"Oh, well, I'm the show's new branding guru," Zondra said.

"Really! Cool! I know you'll have some great ideas for the show!" Chip said.

"Uno momento!" Pepe shouted. "Chip, you know this woman?"

"If they dated I'm going to be very shocked," Rizzo whispered to the king prawn.

"What? No! Chip and I were old friends in college, because, believe this or not, guys and girls can just be friends," Zondra explained. "There was a third person in our trio named Ubu but I haven't heard from him in a long while."

"I heard he hightailed it to Canada. He didn't like the odds of one of candidates becoming president," Chip explained.

"And for that, I will not blame him," Zondra said, shaking her head. "Trump's a terrifying man."

"Actually, it was Cruz that scared him most, but you were close," Chip corrected.

Kermit walked up to the female Muppet and said, "Well, Zondra, I can tell you're going to fit in very well around here, so welcome to the show."

"Thanks Kermit, it's great to be here on the set of Up Late with Miss Piggy," Zondra stated. "Now, I believe you were about to discuss tonight's show?"

"Yes! So let's get right to that!" Kermit said, as all the Muppets sat at their places around the table.

"Now, any ideas for sketches," Kermit asked his friends.

Bunsen Honeydew raised his hand immediately, "Beaker and I have been in the middle of perfecting a new invention of ours that we would like to present to the audience," the scientist stated.

"It's not something dangerous is it," Kermit immediately asked.

"Oh, most certainly not! We tested it over our vacation and it's quite successful," Bunsen explained. "We already have a volunteer, who might I add is NOT going to be Beaker, for the demonstration and it'll be simple as that."

"Oh, well, what's the invention?" Kermit asked, curiously.

"Can't say! It's a surprise! But it'll change the world as we know it!" Bunsen exclaimed excitedly.

"Mee meep!" Beaker meeped happily.

Zoot pulled Dr. Teeth aside and whispered, "For some reason, I've started getting weird vibes when Bunsen started talking about his invention. Do you think it's bad vibes I'm getting?"

"Relax Zoot, Bunsen knows what he's doing. I doubt it'll result in anything too crazy...other than Beaker getting hurt in some way. I'm sure it'll be fine," Dr. Teeth assured his boyfriend.

But Zoot was still a little nervous about Bunsen's invention. He wish he knew why.

 **Well, the Muppets are back for a season 2 (In this fictional universe. Cross your fingers for a second season in reality!) and Dr. Teeth/Zoot as my OTP is still going strong! (I'm thinking about naming it Smooth Jazz. What do you think?)**

 **And Zondra has made a triumphrant return! (In case you couldn't figure it out, I had Zondra and Darci be separate characters instead of being the same person like how it was in my other Muppet Universe)**

 **Now I know you have a lot of questions:**

 **What happened with Kermit and Piggy while they were in Thailand? (Don't know if this'll get answered at some point)**

 **What ideas does Zondra have for the show now since Paché is out of the way?**

 **What is Bunsen Honeydew's new invention?**

 **And why is Zoot, the chilliest of the chill, nervous about it.**

 **Find out in the next chapter of Making Lullabies!**

 **Jim Henson owns the Muppets (characters)**

 **Bill Prady owns The Muppets (TV show)**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review! :)**


	3. Accidental Witness

Later that evening, everyone was racing around the studio trying to get everything ready for the show that was going to occur in less than an hour.

Swedish Chef was getting the food set out and ready to be picked up by anyone and consumed; Uncle Deadly was adding the finishing touches to Miss Piggy's outfit for the night; Scooter and Kermit were running around, checking to be sure everyone was in the right places; Gonzo, Pepe and Rizzo were going over the order of the performances with the people that were performing; Fozzie was looking over his comedic material; Statler and Waldorf were sitting in their seats, ready to heckle the poor bear; Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker were getting their invention ready, which was hidden behind a shimmery pink tarp; and some of the Electric Mayhem members were sitting at their places. I say some because three of the members were missing: Dr. Teeth, Zoot, and Lips.

Dr. Teeth and Zoot were sitting in the band's hang-out place again, both getting a little more time to relax before going on camera again for the first time in months.

Dr. Teeth looked over at the saxophonist and said, "Okay, so we have about an hour to kill before having to go live. You nervous?"

"Nervous? Nah, man, I'm pretty much used to this craziness by now. It's Lips you should ask that question to. Last I saw him, he was shaking more than chihuahua," Zoot said.

Lips always got nervous before a show started; despite having experience from the Muppet Show and a few Muppet films, he still got a bit of stage fright, even when performing on Up Late with Miss Piggy. He had to have a cup of tea with him to soothe his nerves.

"Well, I hope he manages to calm down before the performance; I'd hate to see him pass out onstage. It might cause some chaos," Dr. Teeth said, knowing how when performers are very stressed they drop to the floor and the audience tends to panic when they see it, worried that something may be very wrong with the person who fell unconscious.

"I still have a feeling that there will be chaos tonight though. I just wish I knew what it was," Zoot said.

"Why don't you light some incense on the old burner. Maybe you'll get one of your 'visions'," Dr. Teeth suggested.

As weird as it may sound, whenever the incense burner was lit, specifically with the opium scent, and Zoot would smell it for a brief moment and take a nap, he'd have a weird dreams that would somewhat tell the future: the first time it happened, he saw himself and the band onstage in a theater that resembled the Muppet Theater just a week before they auditioned to perform in the Muppet Show;

the second time, Zoot was in the theater and he heard a trumpet being played somewhere but he couldn't pinpoint where it was, which happened the night before the band began auditions to add a trumpeter to their group, who ended up being Lips, who played eerily similar to how the hidden trumpeter in Zoot's dream played;

the last time it happened, Zoot had a scary vision that the Muppet Theater was torn down, which happened a day before Walter showed up telling the band that the Muppet Theater was going to be torn down and drilled for oil!

Zoot doesn't know if it's just coincidence that he has those visions or if he's psychic, but he does know that it was weird thing to happen after smelling opium incense, especially since the incense didn't even contain the element in opium that caused people to get high. The band are well aware of his visions; Dr. Teeth, Floyd, and Animal thought it was cool, Janice was pretty confident that Zoot was psychic, and Lips thought it was kind of scary.

It had been a while since he did it, because Janice hadn't bought opium for a long period of time. She actually did get some last night, but it was probably too late to take a nap right now.

"It's too late night now, maybe I'll just stay tense all night, stressing out about what's going to happen tonight. Whoa! I think I'm starting to know how Lips feels!" Zoot stated.

"Being stressed out won't do good for you, Zoot; you need to stay calm and mellow when you play your sax, otherwise you might mess up your notes and the pig might get steamed," Dr. Teeth told his partner. Then, he raised his eyebrows and said, "You know, I think I may know something that'll help you calm down."

Before Zoot could have the chance to ask what, Dr. Teeth forced him flat down on the couch, where the keyboardist was over him, looking into his eyes, er, sunglasses. Zoot could feel his face burn red, knowing where THIS was going to go.

A while later, 5 minutes till showtime to be precise, everyone was all ready for the show to go live, but Dr. Teeth and Zoot were still missing.

Kermit turned towards Scooter and said, "Scooter! Can you please go find where Dr. Teeth and Zoot are! We can't start without them."

"Sure thing chief," Scooter obliged, about to run off, when Lips ran up to them.

"Hold on; I think I know where they are, but let me go get them," Lips said, already having a feeling he knew what they were doing at the moment.

"No, no, you stay at your spot, I'll go get them," Scooter told the trumpeter.

"Trust me, Scooter, I should be the one to get them," Lips said.

"Why?" Scooter asked.

"...Reasons," Lips answered.

"Which are?" Scooter asked.

Lips went blank and frantically tried to think of an excuse to why he should be the one to get Dr. Teeth and Zoot instead of Scooter other than the OBVIOUS reason, but will he was blanked out, Scooter went off to search for the two missing Muppets.

Scooter went down the hall to where the band's hangout place was, not helping but remember how the band tried to help him live on the edge by giving him a piercing which did not go as planned. He wondered why Lips didn't want him to retrieve the two musicians, but he was sure it wasn't as big a deal as Lips made it seem...until he entered through the beaded door.

Dr. Teeth had Zoot pinned down on the sofa, where the two Muppets seemed to be sharing a very passionate make-out session, with Zoot moaning a bit every couple of seconds and Dr. Teeth rubbing his hands on the saxophonist's hips.

"Whoa, wasn't expecting this," Scooter accidentally said out loud.

Upon him speaking, Dr. Teeth and Zoot broke their kiss and looked over at the orange Muppet, both gasping, "Scooter!"

Scooter jumped and quickly stammered, "Sorry! Did I scare you? Didn't mean to! I...Um...Uh…" He cleared his throat and wiped his forehead before saying, "You're needed onstage in a minute and a half." And then bolting from the room.

Dr. Teeth and Zoot stared at the bead door, their eyes and mouths wide open.

"Did...that just happen?" Zoot asked Dr. Teeth, hoping they had both imagined Scooter walking in on them.

"Yep," Dr. Teeth answered, getting off Zoot and straightening out any bits of his clothing that got mussed up during their make-out.

"What should we do?!" Zoot asked, grabbing Dr. Teeth's arm, his entire form shaking.

Dr. Teeth put his hands on Zoot's shoulders and told the blue Muppet, "Whoa, man, don't get your nerves all wrecked over this. We're going live in a minute and we need to remain calm. And we know Scooter; he's just going to keep it to himself until after the show and ask us about it later. You know he's not the type to spread gossip."

"Yeah, that's the truth," Zoot said, his tense muscles starting to relax.

"Now, we better get out there before we're too late and the pig chops us through the scenery on camera," Dr. Teeth said as he and Zoot ran out of the room to the set.

Fortunately, the two musicians go to their positions in the band area just 10 seconds before the cameras turned on and as soon as those seconds were up, the show had begun.

Miss Piggy looked at the camera and greeted her audience, "Hello, hello, hello! Hello my adoring audience! It had been far too long since we've seen each other. I've missed each and every one of you! I'd name you all but sadly I don't know each of your personally. Now tonight, our show is going to be packed full of fun, starting with…"

Zoot glanced over to where Scooter was standing, where he caught the orange Muppet staring at him and Dr. Teeth with very wide eyes. When Scooter saw the blue saxophonist was watching him, he quickly turned away, trying to focus on the show.

Zoot looked away, giving out a soft, but annoyed, sigh. First, Scooter caught him and Dr. Teeth having one of their groovy moments, and now the kid won't stop staring at them!

The saxophonist only hoped that Scooter would keep his wide mouth shut about what he saw. Despite what Dr. Teeth said, Scooter does have a tendency to let secrets slip, especially the types of secrets regarding romantic relationships!

For most of the show, Zoot watched Scooter from the corner of his eye so he could see who the associate producer spoke to and how the other person reacted, just to make sure if they were talking about him and his boyfriend. Until commercial break, he didn't seem to spill anything.

When it was break time, Uncle Deadly went onstage to check on Miss Piggy's make-up while Kermit spoke with Bunsen and Beaker about their sketch. Scooter just bolted to the food table and grabbed a few brownies.

Lips looked over at the band and said, "I'm going to grab something to eat. You guys want anything?"

"Just some water probably," Floyd answered.

"Oh, a coconut water would be, like, good right now," Janice added.

"MUFFIN!" Animal shouted.

"Nothing for me, but thanks for asking," Dr. Teeth said.

Zoot didn't respond because he was too focused on Scooter to pay attention to what Lips said, so the trumpeter had to tap him on the shoulder.

"What?" Zoot asked his friend, looking over at him.

"I said I was going to get something to eat and if anyone wanted anything," Lips restated.

"Um…" Zoot stammered, until a thought went into his head. "Actually I'll go with you. I didn't really check to see what they had over there."

The trumpeter and saxophonist went over to the table, and as soon as Scooter saw Zoot, he was about to bolt, but the blue Muppet grabbed his arm to keep him from escaping.

"Don't hurt me," Scooter whimpered.

"Relax, I'm not. I just want to know one thing," Zoot said.

"Well so do I; are you and Dr. Teeth a...thing?" Scooter asked his friend.

Zoot sighed, releasing the orange Muppet and rubbing his forehead, "Yeah, we are, but please don't tell anyone!"

"Relax, I won't. I'm not that type of person. Besides, you should be glad it was me who caught you and not Pepe; if he had seen that, he would've spread it around like wildfire! Wait, does the rest of the band know?" Scooter asked.

"Know what?" Lips asked, going over to the two.

"Nothing!" Scooter answered.

"Chill Scoots, they know about it," Zoot told the young adult.

Lips froze and said, "Whoa are you telling Scooter what I think you're telling him?"

"Yep," Zoot answered flatly.

Lips gasped, "Oh man…"

"But I'm only telling him because he caught me and Dr. Teeth...um…" Zoot explained before dropping away from the subject a bit.

Lips frowned and shook his head, saying, "What did I tell you about doing that at work?"

"Hey! We didn't go that far!" Zoot stated. "At least not this time."

"Shh! Kermit is starting to look over here!" Scooter warned the musicians, as Kermit glanced over at them as soon as Zoot hollered a bit, along with Miss Piggy, Uncle Deadly and the writing team (In case you forgot, it's Gonzo, Rizzo and Pepe).

"So now since Scooter knows...are you two going to come out now?" Lips asked Zoot.

"...I don't-," Zoot started muttering until Scooter cut him off saying, "Commercial break is almost over! You gotta get back to your spots!"

"Oh right," Zoot said, as he and Lips retrieved what they needed and went back to their spots.

"Bunsen and Beaker's sketch is about to go on...man, I hope they don't screw up whatever they're doing," Zoot thought.

 **Well, Scooter knows Dr. Teeth and Zoot's secret now! Whether or not he'll let it slip to someone we don't know, but hopefully it'll be a while until that happens!**

 **And in the next chapter, we're going to see what sort of bizarre invention Bunsen and Beaker had come up with this time!**

 **Which will result in some more chaos on Up Late with Miss Piggy!**

 **Jim Henson owns the Muppets (characters)**

 **Bill Prady owns The Muppets (TV Show)**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


	4. Live Studio Chaos

After the show got back on, Miss Piggy interviewed the actor Harrison Ford, who as far Zoot knew, was the man who played Han Solo in the original Star Wars films and Indiana Jones in the movie series with the same namesake. Zoot has never seen the movies, but Scooter and Chip have talked about them. A lot. In fact, when Kermit revealed Harrison Ford was the guest, the two geeks went into major hysterics! So major, Big Mean Carl used a binder to knock them both unconscious to get them to stop shrieking with joy.

After discussing some of Harrison's recent and past work on movies and the like, it was time for the major sketch. Miss Piggy looked at the camera and said, "Alright, now we've come to the highlight of the show. As some of you have heard on Twitter, our resident scientists have invented a new machine that they claim will change the world. What this new machine is...heck if I know. But we'll all find out together, so everyone, Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant, Beaker!"

The Muppet scientists went onstage, lugging the huge invention that was still hidden under the shiny pink tarp. "Thank you, Miss Piggy for the wonderful introduction," Bunsen said. Then he turned towards the audience, "Now, I bet you're wondering what sort of invention we have come up with and are presenting to you all. Well, I'll explain, but first, let's show you what it looks like to get your brains guessing on what it is. Beaker, remove the tarp!"

Beaker carefully yanked the glittery blanket off the machine, revealing it to look like a laser cannon from a sci-fi movie.

"Now I will take random guesses from the audience on what you think this machine is for. Remember, it's something that supposed to benefit people, so don't say anything typically obvious like a laser cannon," Bunsen stated.

A person raised their hand, "Is it a sort of machine that's involved with living things?"

"Yes, it is!" Bunsen answered.

"Is it for plants?"

"Nope. It's for a certain species of mammal."

"Is it for the endangered animals?"

"No, but I'm trying to figure out something regarding that issue."

"Is it for people?"

"Yes it is!"

"Is it for people's health or something?"

"Yes, and to be more specific, women's health."

"Is it something to cure cancer?!"

"Sadly no, but we're in the middle of coming up with a solution to cancer."

After that statement, the audience went silent, seemingly given up on figuring it out, cuing Bunsen to finally reveal the purpose of the machine.

"Now I will reveal the answer; many of you may not know this, but one of the issues for a minority of women is infertility. That means being unable to conceive children. Sure, there's surrogate mothers and adoption, but those processes are very long and in some cases, it's very hard to be able to do those options due to location and expensive costs. With this invention, we might be able to assist the infertile women who are unable to find a surrogate or an adoption agency. To spare you the details that are long and very difficult to explain, this invention will basically allow infertile women to become fertile," the man explained. "Now, we have tested this invention over season break and it has proven to be very successful, so we have decided to get a test subject to help us with our demonstration, and you'll get to see this machine in action!"

The audience clapped, interested to see how the machine worked. Bunsen then pointed towards the entrance to the stage and said, "Now come on stage, Julie!" However, no woman named Julie walked onstage. Bunsen looked at Beaker and asked, "Beaker, where's Julie. I thought she was coming to the show tonight."

The test tube shaped Muppet shrugged, unsure where the woman was as well.

At that moment, Scooter slapped his hand on his forehead and groaned, "Oh no! I was so busy obsessing over Harrison Ford that I forgot to tell Bunsen that Julie couldn't make it tonight."

"Why couldn't she show?" Kermit asked.

"Family emergency," Scooter explained. "Her mother-in-law was visiting."

"Oh no, did something bad happen?" Kermit asked, worried.

"What? No. Her mother-in-law was **visiting** , Kermit. That's pretty much a family emergency by itself!" Scooter stated, prompting Kermit to give the orange Muppet his typical annoyed face.

"Well, everyone, it looks like we'll have to cancel our demonstration of the machine. Hopefully we'll get it done tomorrow night. Until then, it's best if me and Beaker get this rolled offstage. Come on, Beakie," Bunsen said as he grabbed one side of the machine and Beaker grabbed the other, and they began to push it offstage as the audience groaned in disappointment.

"Oh wow, like that's a bummer," Janice said.

"Yeah, I was kind of looking forward to it," Lips admitted.

Zoot sighed, relieved that the machine business was postponed, and said, "At least there was no chaos because of it."

However, just when the saxophonist said that, Beaker's grip on the invention slipped, causing him to accidently hit the switch to turn the laser on! The machine came to life, several bright lights blinking on it, and a whirring sound to emit from it.

"Beaker! What did you do!?" Bunsen asked the tall Muppet, who replied, "Mee mee meep!" [Translation: I don't know!]

"Uh-oh," Kermit muttered. "What is that laser aiming at right now?"

"I'll check," Scooter said, examining the invention.

"Everyone, immediately take cov-!" Bunsen tried to warn the people in the studio, but a bright blue light shot out from the machine...and went directly at Zoot!

"Zoot! Duck!" Scooter shouted.

"Wha-?" Zoot started saying when the beam of light struck him straight in the abdomen, causing the blue Muppet to be forced back into the wall of the band stand and fall to the ground.

"ZOOT!" All the other Muppets screamed.

"What happens if the machine was shot at a man?" Fozzie asked Bunsen with an unsteady voice.

"I don't know. The invention was intended to be used only on women, so we never bothered testing it on a man," Bunsen admitted.

Zoot slowly stood on his feet, feeling like either the floor was the unbalanced or his legs were.

"Oh thank goodness, he's standing!" Bunsen shouted. "How are you feeling, Zoot?"

Zoot was about to reply, but he immediately got a sick feeling in his stomach and he covered his mouth, wincing.

"Zoot, you okay?" Lips asked his friend.

Zoot didn't say anything; he just bolted off the stage and ran to the nearest trashcan, where he threw up.

"That can't be good," Kermit muttered. "Is it commercial break yet?"

"In one minute," Scooter stated, worried about the audience going into a panic.

Amongst the chaos, Rizzo pointed out to Pepe, "Wow, someone got hurt due to one of Bunsen's inventions, and for once, it wasn't Beaker!"

As soon as the rat said that, one of the wheels of the machine broke off, causing the invention to become unbalanced and fall right on top of the poor lab assistant.

"Spoke too soon, okay," Pepe stated.

"Commercial break," Bobo stated as the cameras shut off temporarily.

Dr. Teeth ran off the stage to where Zoot was still throwing up, with the rest of the band following close behind.

"Zoot! What happened?" Dr. Teeth asked his lover frantically.

"I got hit by a laser and now I'm throwing up!" Zoot snapped before upchucking into the can again for what must've been the 6th time.

"Oh man! We gotta get him to a doctor or something?" Lips stated.

"But what if someone notices the ambulance? It might start a frenzy, and who knows how many news stations are going to want a scoop on this story," Floyd stated.

"We're going to have to risk it. Janice, call an ambulance," Dr. Teeth ordered.

"On it!" Janice said, racing off to grab her cell phone.

"This is awful…" Zoot groaned.

"I'll say. Not only did this happen on live television, Piggy needed a saxophonist for her next number. Now we're going to have to scrap it, and I don't think she'll be happy about it," Lips stated.

"Angry pig karate chop!" Animal shouted.

"Yep," Floyd sighed, remembering how he suffered one of Miss Piggy's karate chops in the past due to him locking her precious dog Foo-Foo in a drawer.

Uncle Deadly then walked by the band, stating, "Don't worry; Miss Piggy doesn't blame Zoot for what happened. She's actually blaming Honeydew for it, but she's not going to karate chop him until after the show."

"Should someone send Bunsen a warning?" Lips asked his friends.

"I think Bunsen already knows it's coming; he's trying to keep hidden from her in the office," Janice said, returning to the group, gripping her phone. "I like, called 911, and they'll be here in 10 minutes."

"Hopefully everything will be okay," Dr. Teeth muttered as he helped keep Zoot steady on his feet after the saxophonist was done throwing up. The keyboardist would hate for something bad to happen to his boyfriend.

At the same time, Zondra was in Kermit's office, which was completely empty, talking on her cell phone. "Yeah, it hit him directly in the abdomen...he's throwing up right now, though, for all I know he could've stopped by now...I saw Janice with her cell phone, so yeah, I think she contacted 911...I don't think Zoot will sue, it was an accident after all...I'll let you know once I find out. Call you later."

Once the ambulance arrived and Zoot was taken to the nearest hospital, Scooter ran up to the band and stated, "These two people named Zachariah and Zoeysha Simms are calling in. Do you know them?"

"Oh, they're Zoot's brother and sister," Dr. Teeth stated. "What about them?"

"Well, they're both extremely upset about what happened to Zoot and demanding that he sue Honeydew for it if anything is severely wrong with him," Scooter explained.

"Oh maaan, Zoot's not the type to do that," Lips said.

Sam the Eagle then stepped up and said, "But he should; this was Prof. Honeydew's fault, and if there is something incredibly wrong with him, he'll need money to cover up the medical expenses."

"I'd hate to say this, but Sam has a good point," Scooter said.

"But it was an accident!" Floyd argued.

"Which could've easily been prevented!" Sam countered.

Kermit then raced into the room and shouted, "Okay! No fighting! We'll deal with the lawsuits after we find out what's wrong with Zoot! Scooter, tell his brother and sister nobody is getting sued until we have a verdict on his health, and someone make sure Piggy doesn't karate chopped by Honeydew. One person in the hospital is enough. Dr. Teeth, you and the band get back onstage, we're going to finish with a different song Piggy knows that doesn't require a saxophone and once the show is done, you can go see how Zoot is."

At that moment, Zondra exitted from Kermit's office, catching everyone's attention.

"Zondra...what were you doing in my office?" Kermit asked the girl.

The girl jumped and quickly explained, "It was very loud with all the people freaking out and I needed to answer a call from a friend of mine."

Before anyone could question her, Bobo announced it was 1 minute till the show was on-air again, so everyone had to run to get in their places, leaving Zondra alone.

The Muppet muttered, "Whoa, that was too close to call. Got to be more careful next time."

 **Well, Bunsen Honeydew's invention backfired and shot at our beloved saxophonist! What could that machine have done to Zoot?**

 **Will he sue Honeydew for what happened?**

 **Or will his siblings gladly handle it for him?**

 **Who was Zondra on the phone with?**

 **Find out in the next chapter of this Muppet fanfic!**

 **Jim Henson owns the Muppet characters.**

 **Bill Prady owns** ** _The Muppets_**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


	5. After the Show

Once the show was live again, Miss Piggy briefly explained that Zoot was rushed to a hospital, but she is sure that he'll be fine and then proceeded to perform her song for the audience, as if nothing happened about 10 minutes prior.

When the band played their instruments, it felt a little odd to perform without Zoot, since the saxophonist was always performing right alongside them. There were times when Lips was absent from performances in the past, but back then he was pretty much new to the band, so it really didn't affect them much.

But Zoot they had known all their lives, so of course it would feel a little bit empty without their #1 sax player with them. Hopefully this would be a one time thing because in all honesty, the band didn't like these sort of changes to stick around for a while.

After the show finished and the cameras were shut off, the audience left the studio, murmuring amongst themselves about Honeydew's invention possibly harming Zoot in some way and it was long before people started talking about the incident on social media.

Scooter was scrolling through his phone, which had social media apps such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Tumblr downloaded on it, where he read a bunch of tweets and posts about the show, which started out with people gushing about Harrison Ford being on the show, which made the orange Muppet smile, but then he started looking at the tweets regarding Bunsen Honeydew's invention, which first started off with excitement and curiosity, and turned to horror and anger after it got to the point when Zoot got accidently shot by it. There was even a new hashtag trending: #FireHoneydew and there were several tweets as followed.

"If there's something seriously wrong with Zoot because of that machine, Miss Piggy needs to #FireHoneydew"

"Zoot was my favorite Muppet, and if he dies, I'm going to be sad and mad! #FireHoneydew"

"I was okay with Beaker being on the receiving end of Honeydew's invention screwups, but hurting one of the members of my favorite band is too far! #FireHoneydew"

"There's no way Honeydew can get away with this screwup! #FireHoneydew"

"The Electric Mayhem had better sue Honeydew for what he did to Zoot! #FireHoneydew"

" misspiggy You had better fire Honeydew for what happened to Zoot! He in a sense just ruined your show! #FireHoneydew"

Scooter sighed as he scrolled through more hate posts about Dr. Honeydew. It was an ACCIDENT! Bunsen would never cause someone to get hurt on purpose! The Muppet was debating whether or not to inform Kermit or someone of the new hashtag, but judging by the looks on his coworkers' expressions as they scrolled through their phones, he was guessing they already found out.

Scooter watched as more tweets popped up and finally, the young Muppet decided to take matters into his own hands. He made a post on Tumblr, and posted a link to the Tumblr post on his Twitter account.

 _Okay, I just got on Twitter and the first thing I see is everyone trending this new hashtag #FireHoneydew._

 _Just to be clear, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is NOT going to get fired! What you saw happen on the show was purely an accident, and our star, Miss Piggy, our executive producer, Kermit the Frog, and I realize that!_

 _Bunsen also feels pretty bad about what happened, so please stop trying to make him feel worse! And I'm sure the Electric Mayhem would want you all to stop trending this hurtful hashtag as well, because they know it was an accident._

 _Accidents happen all the time and I'm sure most of you realize this._

 _As for Zoot's condition, we don't know anything yet, but if some sort of article pops up somewhere stating that he died, don't trust it right away! If something horrible happens to him, we, the Muppets, will let you all know._

~Scooter Grosse, Associate Producer of Up Late with Miss Piggy.

Hopefully that'll get at least some of the fans to calm down, but there were still some comments regarding the fact that Zoot still has a right to sue Honeydew for what happened, but Scooter knew the saxophonist well enough that he'd never do that. Zoot's siblings however, would probably try to do otherwise.

At the same time, the Electric Mayhem were in their van on their way to the hospital where Zoot was taken. Dr. Teeth and Janice were confident that Zoot would be okay, but Floyd and Lips had some doubts.

"Didn't Bunsen say there was a form of radiation in that beam? For all we know, Zoot could have a form of cancer now because of that crazy invention!" Floyd stated.

"Floyd, now's not the time for your cancer conspiracies," Dr. Teeth told the bassist. "Besides, Bunsen said there was no radiation involved with his invention."

"Yeah, but it still could've mutated something. I never really trusted Bunsen's inventions," Lips admitted.

Dr. Teeth sighed, getting annoyed by his two friends' paranoid thoughts. He was used to Floyd spouting conspiracy theories about all sorts of stuff, but right now, the keyboardist was starting to find them annoying! And Lips adding on to the paranoia with his own fears was not helping.

"Oh come on, guys. Like, think positive. I'm sure that whatever is wrong with Zoot can easily be fixed by the doctors," Janice assured the two musicians.

"But what if they can't?" Lips asked, his hands twitching.

"Lips, please calm down; it's bad enough Zoot is in a hospital for who-knows-what. I really don't want to have to put you in a ward for an anxiety attack," Dr. Teeth stated.

Lips just nodded and laid down in his seat in the van, trying to calm down. Animal retrieved Lips' stress ball from the trumpeter's bag and gave it to the blonde-haired Muppet, knowing it might help the musician control his stress a bit. Lips was one of the Muppets that had a bad case of anxiety and got stressed out easily, like Scooter, Kermit, and a few others did, and while his wasn't as bad as Scooter's or Kermit's, it was still bad, and it made his bandmates worry sometimes.

"How much farther is it to the hospital?" Floyd asked, getting impatient about the traffic and really wanting to know what was wrong with his friend.

"Not much farther, it's just around the corner," Dr. Teeth said, waiting for the drivers in front of him to make up their minds about which direction to go. He really wanted to honk at them to hurry up, but he didn't want to appear rude like most drivers.

Finally, after 10 minutes of driving, the band finally arrived at the hospital, and as soon as Dr. Teeth had the van parked, Floyd and Animal threw open their doors and raced outside, with Lips trailing close behind.

Dr. Teeth and Janice made a mad dash to keep up with them, but due to the three musicians being a bit more athletic than them, the trio got inside first.

They ran up to the receptionist and Floyd somewhat shouted, "Excuse me! I'm Floyd Pepper, I'm one of Zoot's friends. Can you tell us which ward our friend is being held?"

"Do you know anything about his condition?! Will he ever play the saxophone again?!" Lips shouted.

"ZOOT! ZOOT! WHERE'S ZOOT!" Animal demanded to know.

As the receptionist tried to calm them down, Dr. Teeth ran up to them, grabbed them all at once and pulled them a good distance away. Then he went up to the lady and said, "Sorry about my friends' behavior. They're a little stressed out about what's wrong with Zoot."

"A little stressed out? That's your definition of being a little stressed out?" the receptionist said.

Dr. Teeth, ignoring the comment, asked, "Can you tell us which ward Zoot is being held in?"

"No, but I'll call a doctor to check. Have a seat, please," the lady stated.

Dr. Teeth, Janice and Lips found seats to sit in, but Floyd and Animal just started pacing all over the place, waiting for some doctor to show up and tell them a verdict.

"I just hope Zoot will be okay," Lips muttered.

Dr. Teeth just sighed and stared at the clock, wondering how long it would take until a doctor showed up and gave them a verdict on Zoot's health.

Back at the studio, the phone on Yolanda's desk's ringer was blowing up, but the rat assistant was not around to pick it up; she was busy monitoring the social media sites along with Pepe, Scooter and Chip to see what popped up on the internet regarding the recent incident.

Zondra walked up to the desk and checked the collar ID to see who was it. Not recognizing the number, she decided it'd be best to not pick it up, since there was a chance it could be someone important and she doesn't know how to deal with talking to people like that.

After the call ceased, the answering machine lit up, and Zondra clicked it, hearing this serious-toned message: "This is Zachariah Simms. In case you forgot, I'm Zoot's older brother and I demand to know what is happening right now. Has anyone heard from the hospital yet? Is my brother alright? Are you going to fire that idiot scientist? If I don't get answers to any of these questions sometime soon, I will contact the hospital myself."

After the message ended, Zondra muttered, "How do you plan to call the hospital if you don't know which one Zoot is in?"

The Goth Muppet sighed and went to rejoin her friends, who were scrolling through multiple medias at once. The girl stated, "Zachariah called again. He says if he doesn't get word on how his brother is soon, he'll call the hospital to find out."

"I figured," Scooter said, clicking various Tumblr posts and skimming them.

"You never mentioned how intimidating he sounded," Zondra pointed out, thinking about the serious tone Zachariah spoke with.

"If you think his voice is terrifying, wait'll you meet him in person! He's the scariest guy I've meet! Even Sweetums is scared of him," Scooter stated.

"Really? What does he look like?" Zondra asked.

"He looks like Zoot except he's taller and has all his hair," Yolanda explained. "If he wasn't so serious all the time, I could even say he's handsome."

"Whoa, you think Zachariah is handsome?" Rizzo asked the girl rat.

"I would if he wasn't dead-cold serious all the time," Yolanda corrected.

"Wow, his personality doesn't line up with Zoot's at all," Zondra said.

"Yeah, it's kind of a weird thing to think about. Zoot's sister, Zoeysha, on the other hand is a real sweetie. She came by the studio once and gave us oatmeal cookies. They were kind of bland, but it was a nice gesture," Scooter stated. "But if Zoot gets harmed in some way, she kind of goes into what I call protective-sister mode."

"Must be nice having two older siblings looking out for you as much as that," Zondra assumed.

"Are you implying Darci never did that for you?" Rizzo asked the Goth.

"Well, she used to. But at some point in high school, we kind of started drifting apart and by college, we were completely separated," Zondra explained.

"Aw, that's a little sad. Have you talked to her at all?" Scooter asked.

"Yeah, once a week, but all she talks about is either her music or a stupid man or rat or bear she ran into earlier that day. It gets boring to hear all that after a while," Zondra explained.

"I'll bet it is."

"So what's social media talking about now?" Zondra asked.

"Well, some fans have quit it with the #FireHoneydew thing, but there's still a lot of fans out there still upset about it. Some people are even sending death threats to Dr. Honeydew!" Chip stated.

"Dear god…" Zondra muttered, her skin getting goosebumps at the thought of someone actually getting the idea to kill Bunsen for what happened to Zoot. "Let's hope nobody acts on it."

Back at the hospital, the Electric Mayhem had been waiting around for a half hour, where Animal had fallen asleep in a chair and was snoring a little loudly, Janice was rereading an article in a garden magazine for the 3rd time, Lips was going through his phone to see if there were any messages from the other Muppets or Zoot's siblings, Floyd was flipping through a newspaper, and Dr. Teeth was just sitting there, twiddling his thumbs.

Finally, a doctor entered the room and said, "Electric Mayhem band."

The four awake band members looked up and jumped out of their seats.

"Give it to us straight, doc; will Zoot be okay?" Floyd asked.

"Yes, your friend will be fine. We just took some X-rays of his abdominal area and as far as we can see regarding his bone structure, there's nothing out of the ordinary. The nausea has ceased, so we're sure there's nothing wrong with his stomach and intestines, but we're going to have to do a sort of ultrasound to check on his other organs tomorrow morning," the doctor explained.

Lips fell to his knees and sobbed, "Thank god."

"That's good to hear. Is he accepting visitors?" Dr. Teeth asked.

"He's very tired right now, but he wants to speak to his partner," the doctor stated.

Dr. Teeth looked around the waiting room, checking to make sure nobody else was listening. Then the keyboardist stepped up to the doctor and whispered, "That'd be me."

"Ah, in that case, follow me," the doctor said, leading the Muppet down the hall.

Once they were gone, Floyd said, "He's willing to talk to Teeth, but he pushes the rest of us away."

"Floyd!" Lips and Janice scolded.

In Zoot's ward, the saxophonist was under the blankets in a bed, wearing the plain-looking clothes patients wore and feeling tired due to all the chaos that went down earlier that evening. He couldn't believe how worked up some people got over the accident, having heard about it from a nurse who was nice enough to check social media for him. He only hoped that the drama didn't cause Bunsen to feel guilty about what happened.

Then Dr. Teeth entered the ward, his mouth breaking into a grin for the first time that night. "Zoot!" he greeted.

"Hey…" Zoot muttered, smiling a bit.

Dr. Teeth went over to his bed and gave him a small kiss on the lips before asking, "How're you feeling right now."

"Pretty well. I'm going to have to stay here for the night," Zoot stated.

"Yeah, I kind of figured. Oh, your siblings called. They're both really worried about you...and they want you to sue Honeydew," Dr. Teeth told the blue Muppet.

Zoot sighed and said, "I knew they would, but I don't blame him for what happened. Do I have to sue?"

"Well, if you don't blame him for the accident, you don't have to, but a lot of people want you to, and they also want Bunsen fired," Dr. Teeth added.

"Some people are just so unforgiving," Zoot stated.

"Yeah...I'm glad you're still alive," Dr. Teeth said.

"I'm glad to be alive," Zoot said.

The two Muppets then locked lips again, this time for a little while longer and when they broke apart, Zoot lied down on his bed and went to sleep almost instantly.

Dr. Teeth sighed and left the room quietly, trying not to disturb his partner as he exited.

 **Well, that does it for this chapter! What is the final verdict of Zoot's health?**

 **Will any of the angry fans enact their death threats against Honeydew?**

 **Will Bunsen get fired?**

 **Will Zoot's siblings sue Honeydew for what happened?**

 **Find out in the next chapter!**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


	6. The Following Morning

Later that night, the Electric Mayhem had gotten back to their apartment, where they all started getting ready bed after a very stressful day.

As Lips used his combed out his fluffy hair, he said to Dr. Teeth, who was nearby brushing his teeth, "So the doctor said something about Zoot need an ultrasound. I thought ultrasounds were used on pregnant women."

"They are, but i think doctors also use them to check on certain organs that the x-rays can't scan. That isn't something you should ask me. I think you should ask Rowlf that," Dr. Teeth explained, after rinsing the toothpaste from his mouth.

"Good plan," Lips said, putting his comb away and taking his turn at the sink to brush his teeth. "Zoot will be okay, right?"

"Geez Lips, didn't you hear what the doctor said? He says as far as they know, he's okay. They'll give us a final verdict tomorrow morning, but I'm sure he's fine."

"Yeah, but I feel like something is going to be off about him. I don't know why, but I just get that feeling," Lips sighed, as he began to brush his teeth.

Dr. Teeth nodded and decided to change the subject to avoid Lips getting stressed out, "So, what happened with that girl you went on a date with last week?"

Lips' response was choking on his toothpaste, causing him to gag a bit, but after spitting it out and breathing for a few seconds, he said, "It uh...didn't work out."

"Did something screw up the date?" Dr. Teeth asked.

"Nah, it's just that...I didn't feel any sparks with her," Lips explained, rinsing his toothbrush. "We ended up just becoming friends."

Dr. Teeth shook his head, but he was smiling, "Lips, I swear you're betting at being in the friend zone with girls than dating them."

"I know, it's odd. I think girls are pretty and I think I'm going to be able to date one I like, but in the end, I have no romantic feelings towards them and end up staying in touch as friends," Lips stated, before starting to rinse his mouth out with water.

Dr. Teeth thought hard for a few moments before saying, "Say, have you ever thought that maybe you're gay or something on the LGBT+ community?"

As soon as Teeth said that, the blonde-haired Muppet choked on the water and quickly spit it out into the sink, coughing. "Don't surprise me with questions like that if I have something in my mouth!" he shouted.

Dr. Teeth laughed and said, "Alright, sorry, but seriously, Lips, have you ever considered that?"

Lips thought hard, trying to look at the facts and see if he could possibly be gay, but so far, he didn't think he was, but he was curious.

"Sometimes, but I think to figure that out, I have find the a guy to date first and see if it works out," the Muppet finally answered.

"Good plan. Well, good night. It's probably going to be extra busy tomorrow," Dr. Teeth exiting the bathroom.

"G'night," Lips replied, leaving as well and heading to his room.

The next morning, things around the office were pretty much normal; the Swedish Chef was getting some food ready for anyone who needed a little breakfast; Yolanda was giving Kermit messages about people who had called; Uncle Deadly was checking over various outfits, trying to figure out what Miss Piggy could for the show; and Zondra was sitting at her laptop, looking at various news articles.

There was the usual news regarding scandal and gossip revolving around major celebrities, recent polls on up-and-coming politicians, and records on the weather, but a few sites were still talking about the events on Up Late with Miss Piggy last night. Some websites even took screen shots of people's tweets and posts, expressing how worried they were about Zoot, or angry they were at Bunsen Honeydew, or both.

Zondra shook her head at all the flaming messages, thinking, "Didn't people have anything better to do that night other than get riled up about that incident?"

When there were articles saying that Zoot had died in the ambulance ride on the way to the hospital or he died in emergency surgery, Zondra had the urge to throw her laptop at the wall out of annoyance. She hated it when magazine and news sites posted stories like that online. Don't they know how badly it upsets the family and fans of that celebrity!?

Zondra immediately went to Twitter to inform the world about the articles:

 _For those of you who have read articles saying that Zoot died, don't believe them. The Electric Mayhem said that he's doing fine right now._

After posting the tweet, several likes and retweets rang up, making her happy that some people were helping her spread the message to calm other fans. Then, she went closed most of the news websites she had finished reading, until she got to the last one: The Daily Scandal.

After the Muppets resurfaced as celebrities, Fleet Scribbler had gotten enough money to turn the Daily Scandal newspaper into a website, so the more modern youth could catch on the celeb gossip he dug up, or in some cases, made up. In the newest article, one of the writers posted about Zoot's situation, stating that he's very much alive, about Bunsen Honeydew receiving death threats from Electric Mayhem fans, about Zoot's siblings threatening to sue Honeydew for what happened, and Zoot just needing an ultrasound on his other organs so a final verdict can be given on his health.

"I wonder how they got all that info," Zondra muttered to herself as she exited out of the site. "It probably wasn't cheap."

When the band entered the office, Kermit left his office and ran up to Dr. Teeth, "So, when will Zoot be able to get back work. I need to know so we can figure out songs you can play that doesn't involve a saxophone."

"Well, the doc told us he just needs an ultrasound in the morning, but from the way it sounds, I think he'll be set to go back to work," Floyd said.

"But I think he should rully take it easy, today. He went through a lot of stress last night," Janice stated.

"I'll let Piggy know. So he's going to be fine?" Kermit asked.

"Like Floyd said, the doctor said he'll need one more test, but we're all pretty confident that he'll be a-okay," Lips stated.

"Oh good, I'd hate for something bad to happen to him. There's a lot of articles online saying he died in surgery or something. It's freaking out a lot of fans. Fortunately we have Zondra to deal with them all," Kermit explained.

"How so?" Dr. Teeth asked, curious about the new girl's role.

"Oh, she's calling up their offices and ordering them to take the posts down and so far, she's actually succeeding in doing that. However, the Daily Scandal somehow caught wind of what was going on and posted an article early this morning. The information they had was actually completely accurate for once, and it got every detail we know," Kermit explained.

Scooter ran up and said, "Yeah! It's almost like someone had fed them all the information directly from here."

"That's a pretty good theory. Do you think Pepe said anything to them? You know how desperate he is to get cash," Floyd said.

"I asked, but he said he didn't have a chance to do that because Gonzo caught him and stopped him," Scooter admitted. "Sweetums, Chip and I are trying to figure out who it was, but so far, everyone's innocent. It's weird."

"Yeah, let's hope that doesn't happen again," Kermit said, walking off.

After most of the band went off to do their own thing, Dr. Teeth and Scooter were left alone.

Scooter took a quick look around and quietly asked, "So, how long have you and Zoot been a couple?"

"Ever since season 5," Dr. Teeth answered.

"Of the Muppet Show?! Wow! That's a really long time. Long enough for you two to actually get married," Scooter stated.

"I know, which is why I'm currently waiting for the engagement ring I order for him to come in," Dr. Teeth stated proudly.

"Oh! What's it look like? Can I see a picture of it? When is it supposed to arrive?"

"It has a silver band and a blue sapphire in it, I'll show you a picture of it later, and I think it's supposed to come in today. Don't tell Zoot when he gets back here. I want to surprise him," Dr. Teeth stated.

"My mouth is sealed like a vault owned by the FBI," Scooter stated.

At the hospital, Zoot was laying on an examination table, petroleum jelly rubbed on his abdomen, awaiting his ultrasound. He thought it was pretty silly to get one, since he was a guy, but if the doctor said he needed one, he'll roll with it.

"Okay Zoot," the doctor said, gripping the sensor in his hand. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Zoot replied.

The doctor placed the center on his stomach and began to look at the screen depicting the inside of Zoot's abdomen. So far, everything seemed normal.

"Well, looks good so far, let's go more towards the center," the doctor said, moving the sensor. When he did that, his eyes widened at the screen and he said, "Well, that's out of the ordinary."

"What is it!?" Zoot asked frantically. Was something wrong with him?

 **What is wrong with Zoot? Is it serious? Will Scooter accidently spill the beans about Dr. Teeth and Zoot dating and Teeth's plan to propose to the saxophonist? Who told the Daily Scandal all the details about what happened last night? Find out in the next chapter!**

Jim Henson owns the Muppet characters

 **Bill Prady owns the Muppets TV Show.**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


	7. Shocking Diagnosis

"I don't know how to explain this Zoot, but...I think you have a set of ovaries inside of you," the doctor said, examining the ultrasound.

Zoot's body went stiff, processing the information he was just given, before saying, "Please tell me you accidently came into contact with morphine before coming to check on me."

"I'm being serious, Mr. Simms. Here, look." The doctor moved the monitor so Zoot could see the screen, where the somewhat heart-shaped organs could be seen on the screen.

"But...how? Did Bunsen's invention mutate something in me to make ovaries?" Zoot asked, still confused.

"Well, I saw the episode of Up Late with Miss Piggy last night, and he said the machine was intended to make infertile women fertile. Therefore, it's possible you could've have these ovaries all your life but never knew," the doctor theorized.

Zoot slammed his head back on the examination table and grumbled, "Dear god...Zachariah and Zoey are going to FLIP."

"Now relax, these types of things come up sometimes, but not often. You not exactly a freak," the doctor stated.

"Yeah, I figured, but what can I do about it? Is there a way to reverse the effects?" Zoot asked, sitting up again.

"Well, first we'll get a specialist to come in from another state to assess the situation, which could be a few weeks, and then, if possible, we could remove the ovaries," the doctor suggested.

"Are there risks involved? Should I have to tell my friends about this?" Zoot asked, worried about the other Muppets' reactions to this bit of news.

"None as far as I know. As for your friends, you might want to let them know ahead of time before you get this all done. For all you know, your partner might want to have a baby and this could make it easier," the doctor answered.

Zoot thought hard; his friends might be a little freaked out to know of Zoot's long-hidden organs, but they might get used to the idea...maybe. And as for being able to have a baby, well, pregnancy seems to be a pretty hectic thing for women to go through, especially the birth! But what if Dr. Teeth wanted to have kids? How would pregnancy affect him? Would it have risks? Zoot didn't want to find out.

"We could adopt," Zoot said.

"True, but adoption is such a lengthy process, and it's gotten a lot more expensive since the 70s," the doctor informed the blue Muppet.

Zoot sighed and said, "Send the specialist over, but I'll have to think about the whole removal thing."

"Alright, she might arrive in two weeks. If you'd like, you can take a file containing all the info for Dr. Honeydew to look at. He might want to know of the situation," the doctor suggested, printing out the ultrasound image, putting it in a file along with some other documents, wrote down a few notes and then handed it to Zoot.

Zoot sighed and took the folder. This was going to be a very different day.

At the studio, Yolanda was sitting at her desk, reading a rat fashion magazine, when the phone rang.

She picked up the receiver and said, annoyed to be interrupted, "Office of Up Late with Miss Piggy. What do you want?"

Then, she froze for a second and her annoyed frown turned into a bright smile. "Oh! It's you! How are you? It's been so long...You're moving into town?! Well, I'm sure some Muppets here will be very happy to see again! See you soon!"

Then she hung up, still smiling. Then went off to inform Kermit of this surprise visitor.

A half hour later, Fozzie drove to the hospital to retrieve Zoot, since the band was tied up with work.

"Alright Zoot! Let's get you to the studio! Or do you need to stop by your house to get a change of clothes first?" Fozzie asked.

"Janice texted to me that she brought some clothes from the house," Zoot stated, holding up his cell phone.

"Oh, right! She told me that before I left. I completely forgot," Fozzie said, covering his eyes with his hand. Then, the comedian bear noticed the folder Zoot was gripping and pointed at it, "What's that?"

"Oh, it's just some documents the doctor gave me to look over, like my medical history, you know," Zoot lied.

"Ah, makes sense. Okay, let's go," Fozzie said, leading Zoot outside.

Once at the studio, Zoot went off to the band's hangout room to see it was empty, but there was a small stack of new clothes for Zoot so he wouldn't have to walk around in what he wore yesterday. He put them on and set out to find Bunsen, wanting to inform him of his "situation".

He spotted the scientist at the food table, getting some coffee, and was about to walk over to him when he heard Janice and Lips holler, "Zoot!"

Zoot turned around to be tackle-hugged by his friends, causing him to crash to the ground.

"Ow! Guys, I just got OUT of the hospital. Do you want to send me back?" Zoot joked.

"Oh, like, sorry. Got a little excited," Janice giggled.

"Yeah, sorry pal. We missed you," Lips added, grinning.

The blonde Muppets stood up and helped Zoot to his feet as Dr. Teeth, Floyd and Animal ran over to them.

"Good to see you're doing okay," Floyd said, patting the saxophonist on the shoulder.

"Do you think you're fit to perform, or do you want to take it easy for this show?" Janice asked.

"Some fans might think it cruel if Miss Piggy put me to work just the night after all that chaos happened, so I think I'll take a break for the night," Zoot said.

"So, everything's all good?" Dr. Teeth asked his boyfriend, taking his hand and looking into his eyes.

Zoot blushed and stammered, "Y-yeah, everything's cool...I just need to discuss something with Bunsen real quick."

"You're not going to sue him, are you?" Floyd asked, his jaw dropping.

"What? No, I'd never do that," Zoot stated.

Sam's voice hollered from across the room, "But you honestly should!"

Zoot turned in the direction of Sam's voice and shouted, "Sam, this doesn't concern you!"

Then, the saxophonist turned around to go up to Bunsen, but he was gone, the double-doors nearby swinging.

"Good grief, is he avoiding me?" Zoot thought, before going through the doors to find him.

He saw Bunsen quickly walking down the hall, as if trying to escape, prompting Zoot to sigh and run up behind him, saying, "Bunsen, there's something we got to talk about."

Bunsen quickly turned to face Zoot and fell on his knees, "If this is about the night before, I'm very sorry! I didn't intend for anyone to get harmed during my experiment! Please don't sue me!"

"Relax, I'm not going to sue you. I already forgave you for what happened," Zoot said to Bunsen, patting him on the shoulder.

"Oh. Dear me, how silly of me to assume so easily," Bunsen said, standing up. "In that case, what do we need to talk about?"

"Well…" Zoot started, then took a quick look around to see who was standing nearby who could possibly eavesdrop. There were quite a handful of people in the room and there were chances others could walk in on them, so Zoot said, "Actually, it might be better to talk about it on the roof."

"I see. Well, to the roof then," Bunsen said, going towards the stairs.

Once on the roof, Zoot handed the scientist the file of his medical info he got from the doctor and Bunsen skimmed the info. "Well, it says here you're very healthy. What is the issue exactly?" the melon-head Muppet asked, a tad confused as to why Zoot wanted him to look at the file.

"Look at this ultrasound picture the doctor took," Zoot said, grabbing the picture from the bottom of the documents and showing it to Bunsen, along with the page of notes stapled to it.

Bunsen examined it, and if he had eyes, they would've become as big as dinner plates. "My invention gave you a pair of ovaries?!" he gasped.

"Actually, the doctor thinks I've always had them, but they weren't fertile. Now according to him, they might be because of your machine," Zoot explained.

"Incredible! That means my invention did what it was intended to do!" Bunsen exclaimed, jumping for joy.

"You're not freaked out that I have ovaries?" Zoot asked, surprised.

"Of course not! It's actually somewhat common in the medical world. I believe the term is intersex. However, most cases become secret, because the doctors usually mutilate the genitals to hide it, mostly making intersex babies into female. I'm actually surprised that that didn't happen to you, since this did occur in the 70s at times," Bunsen explained.

"Yeah, I'm shocked too. Maybe my parents didn't want it done," Zoot shrugged. "I'm actually wondering if my siblings knew."

"Probably not, otherwise they would've told you," Bunsen assumed.

"But I'm really confused now," Zoot said.

"About what?" Bunsen asked.

Zoot took a deep breath and said, "All my life I've considered myself a guy, and to find out I have 'girl organs', like...am I still a guy or am I a woman now?"

Bunsen patted Zoot on the shoulder and said, "Zoot, I'm a man of science, but I know gender isn't all about what genitalia or reproductive organs you have; it's mostly in what your brain and heart say. If you identify yourself as male, you're male. If you identify yourself as female, you're female. If you identify yourself without a gender, you're nonbinary. Gender doesn't have to be determined by your genitals, it's determined by what you think. Do you understand?"

Zoot processed what the scientist said and answered, "Yeah, I think I get that. Thanks, Bunsen."

"No problem," Bunsen said.

Then, out of the corner of Zoot's eye, he could've sworn he saw a flash of light! He turned towards the roof entrance to see the door suddenly closing. He turned towards Bunsen and asked, "Did you see that flash?"

"Yes, I did," Bunsen confirmed. "It was similar to a camera flash."

"Camera flash...oh no," Zoot muttered, before bolting through the door and down the steps, trying to catch the hidden photographer.

When he reached the bottom, he found Zondra standing near the bottom, scrolling her phone. She looked at Zoot and asked, "Hey, aren't you supposed to be taking it easy?"

"Yeah, but I think someone took a picture of me and Bunsen talking on the roof. Did you see anyone?" Zoot asked the Gothic Muppet.

"Sorry, I didn't notice anyone. I just walked down here," Zondra admitted, shrugging.

Zoot looked around, trying to locate the escaping mystery person, but nothing was off about anyone.

"Whoever did that doesn't mean well. I can sense it," Zoot thought to himself.

 **Well, as if turns out, Zoot was born with ovaries that have become fertile due to Honeydew's machine.**

 ** ** ** **Will he tell the band and the other Muppets about it?********

 **Will he have them removed?**

 **Who was the person that called that got Yolanda excited?**

 **Who was the person that took the picture of Zoot and Bunsen talking? Find out in the next chapter!**

 **Please comment and/or favorite!**


	8. Surprise Guest

The show went on without much consequence, though some audience members were a little confused when Zoot was missing from the band at the start, but Miss Piggy explained that he had to take a night off after the events of the night before. Zoot was very glad she did that, otherwise some people could've stressed about his well-being throughout the entire show.

After everything was done, the band began packing up their instruments to leave, when Zoot got a call on his cell phone. He picked up his phone and checked to see who it was. It was his sister, Zoeysha.

"That's not Zachariah, is it?" Floyd asked, gripping his guitar case. "Dude called the office a lot the night before. He sounded really upset about what happened to you."

"I'm aware of that, and not, it's not Zach. It's Zoey," Zoot stated, answering the phone.

"Zoot! You're alive!" he heard his sister's voice exclaim.

"Yeah, of course I am. Did you really think I'd die?" Zoot asked his sibling.

"Well, yeah, there's no telling what that beam could've done to your body. It could've given you a weird mutation or something. So are you perfectly fine?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright, except that…" Zoot started until going silent, remembering he was in the same room as his bandmates, who could easily hear what he'll say to Zoey.

"Except what? Zoot?" he heard his sister ask in a concerned voice.

Zoot muttered into the phone, "Wait a second." Then, he quickly left the room and went around the building until he found a hallway that was completely empty. Then he spoke to her again, "Sorry, I had to isolate myself from the others for a second."

"Why? What's wrong?" Zoey asked.

"Well, nothing is really wrong with me, it's just…" Zoot started, trying to think of a way to explain his bizarre situation to his sister. After a few moments of silence, he sighed, "Okay, I'll just cut to the chase; Zoey, when I was born, was I born...intersex?"

His sister didn't say anything, but he could've sworn he heard a small gasp. "Dear god...you found out. Wait, Bunsen said his machine was used to allow infertile women to become fertile, and you never showed any sign of fertility throughout your life, so...did the machine actually do what it was supposed to?"

Zoot sighed and said, "Yeah, it did, and I'm a little ticked about it because NOBODY in my family informed me of this."

"Oh Zoot, I'm so sorry we hid this from you. Zachariah did in fact want to tell you, so you could get your ovaries removed, you know, but he thought you wouldn't believe him," Zoey explained.

"Well, I can still get them removed, but the thing is...I don't know if I want to," Zoot admitted.

"Really? Why?" Zoey asked.

"I don't know...maybe Dr. Teeth might want to have kids with me one day and this could make it easier," Zoot suggested.

"How do you know he won't get freaked out by this? A lot of people can be pretty judging, Zoot. I mean, you know Sam the Eagle, right? He's one of those people, I can tell," Zoey warned.

"Oh come on, Zoey. Doc isn't like that. He's pretty open-minded," Zoot said, shaking his head.

"Are you sure of that?" Zoey asked.

Zoot froze, thinking about Dr. Teeth. Was he the type to get freaked out about something like a guy having ovaries? Surely he wasn't...then again, as far as Zoot knew, Doc never met someone like that, until now when Zoot might make his "big reveal".

Zoey spoke again, "I'm sorry, you're right. Maybe he won't freak out. But what about all the other Muppets? Won't they flip?"

"I already told Bunsen, and he's cool with it. Says that it's a pretty normal thing to happen to someone," Zoot stated.

"Yeah, but that's just Bunsen. He's probably heard cases like that often since he's a scientist, but what about the others?" Zoey pointed out.

Zoot went silent again, trying to think of possible outcomes of telling his friends of his surprise condition. Would they see him as a freak? Would they not want to hang out with him anymore? Would he get FIRED?! The thought of losing his job and friends made his knees shake and sweat pour down his face. Finally, he uttered out, "I know I might come off a bit as a freak, but I'm sure some of them will be cool with it. We've had freakier Muppets here."

Zoeysha just sighed, "Okay, I'm just worried you're going to get yourself emotionally hurt or something. Listen, if find yourself in a difficult situation because of this, just call me and I'll do what I can."

"Alright...does Zachariah still think I should sue Bunsen, because, as you know, I'm completely fine, and it was an accident," Zoot asked.

"He finally dropped the subject after hearing news that you're perfectly healthy, but he's still a little ticked at Honeydew for it even happening. Brace yourself if he realizes that Bunsen's machine made you fertile. He might be the #1 person to pressure you to get your ovaries removed right away so you don't get pregnant or something," Zoey stated.

"I'll keep that in mind," Zoot said, rolling his eyes at the idea of his brother losing his mind over this. "I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, see ya!" Zoey said, before hanging up.

Zoot hung up his cell phone and put it in his pocket, when Janice ran down the hall up to him.

"Zoot, we're all ready to go. Why'd you run off like that?" Janice asked her friend.

"Sorry, I needed to discuss something with my sister in private," Zoot explained, going down the hall to retrieve his belongings to go home.

Days went by as normal, the Muppets helping each other put together Up Late with Miss Piggy, going to Rowlf's Tavern for the afterparty and then heading home. All normal. However, one day, Zoot felt like it was going to go differently for once, but he couldn't figure out why.

At the office, Zoot was cleaning his saxophone in the band's hangout area, all alone. Then, there was a loud commotion coming from down the hall, prompting Zoot to abandon his work to see what it was all about.

He walked down the hall to see Yolanda standing guard in front of the room where the guest star would stay and wait to perform, with Pepe and Rizzo pleading to her about something.

"Come on! Can you at least give us more hints on who the guest is?" Rizzo asked.

"Yeah, saying that 'he's someone from our past' isn't very helpful, okay," Pepe added.

"Nuh-uh, you can't see him yet. It's a surprise. You'll just have to wait until the show to see him," Yolanda told her friends.

"But that's an hour away!" Pepe complained. "Just tell us, okay!"

"No!" Yolanda rejected as Sweetums walked up to her. She turned towards the huge monster and asked, "Sweetums, can you guard the guest's room? I need to get some work done and I don't want Pepe and Rizzo to go in there."

"Sure thing, Yolanda!" Sweetums obliged, taking the blonde rat's spot.

As Yolanda walked by Zoot, the saxophonist asked her, "Can you tell me who the guest is?"

Yolanda turned towards the blue Muppet, put her hands on her hips and shouted, "No! You'll just tell Pepe and Rizzo and then they'll really want to get into the guest star's room!"

Zoot just did a soft laugh and went back to the band room to the sound of Rizzo and Pepe trying to convince Sweetums to let them into the guest star's room.

Later that night, during the show, there was no sign of the guest star. Yet, at least. Finally, in the last part of the show, Piggy looked at the audience and announced, "Now, our guest tonight is someone who many of you might not be familiar with, unless you watched the show he hosted in the 90s for two seasons. He is an old friend of moi's and a dear friend of many Muppets who are here. I could just let you all sit there and guess who it is, but that would ruin this moment, so everyone, had an astounding round of applause for...Clifford, the former host of Muppets Tonight!"

As soon as Miss Piggy said his name, Rizzo and Pepe's jaws, along with many other Muppets', dropped as the familiar purple Rastafarian Muppet made his way onto the stage, looking towards the cheering audience, smiling proudly.

Zoot noticed Lips was in extreme awe as well, his eyes wide open for once as soon as he saw the Muppet. He kept forgetting that Lips had never personally met Clifford. Usually, Clifford dropped by when Lips was unable to perform with the band, so he only heard of him.

Clifford grinned as he took a seat in the guest sofa and said, "Thanks Piggy, it's great to be here. Especially since a lot of my old friends are on the show here as well. Though I am a little surprised I haven't been barraged with hugs by now."

As soon as he said that, many of the Muppets snapped out of shock and ran up to the Muppet to greet him.

"Man Clifford! How long has it been since we've seen each other last?" Rizzo asked.

"I think the last Muppet thing I was involved with was The Muppets Wizard of Oz," Clifford stated. "Which was back in 2005?"

"11 years! That long, okay! Wow, we need to start hanging out again, okay," Pepe said.

"We could've hung out in those 11 years, but none of you called," Clifford stated.

"We tried, but we couldn't reach you for some reason. I think when you left, you headed somewhere out of our cell phone's range, so we gave up after a week of trying to call you," Rizzo explained.

"Remember, cell phones were kind of terrible back then, okay," Pepe reminded his old friend. "Many kids don't even know how to text with those old flip phones anymore."

"So, what are you doing with your life now?" Miss Piggy asked Clifford, before anything went too off topic. "Surely, you must've been busy during those last 11 years since you left the Muppets."

"Well, for one thing, I decided to go back to my roots as a bassist, and I've been working as a male model," Clifford answered.

"Male model? Wow, that's really cool, okay. Do you ever become associated with the female models?" Pepe asked.

"Sometimes, depending on the sort of shoot we're doing," Clifford explained.

"Oh. Do you know if any of the female models were single?" Pepe asked, sparking some laughter from the audience.

"Well, I'm pretty sure some of them were, but they were in and out of the studio too fast for me to ask," Clifford admitted.

"Oh great. I was hoping you could hook me up with one of them, okay," Pepe said.

Piggy got Clifford's attention back by asking another question, "Speaking of dating; Clifford, before you left the Muppets, you were always on the phone with someone. Your girlfriend I believe?"

"Oh, you're talking about Chantel. Yeah, we dated for quite a while, but one day, she decided to call it quits," Clifford stated. "I didn't know why...until a few weeks later I found out one of my fellow male models is dating her now."

"Oh no!" Rizzo shouted.

"Unbelievable, okay!" Pepe exclaimed.

"Oh, you poor thing!" Miss Piggy gasped.

"Man, that's a real bummer, Clifford," Dr. Teeth agreed.

"If it helps, I can, like, introduce you to some of the girls in my aerial silks class. I'm sure at least one of them will be interested in dating you," Janice suggested.

Lips looked at Janice and said, "Now, now, Jan. Clifford might need some time to think before getting into the dating game again."

Zoot whispered into the trumpeter's ear, "Yeah, that'll give you plenty of time to figure out what Clifford's preference is." Lips shot the saxophonist a look and then focused his vision on Clifford again.

"That's nice, Janice, but like your trumpeter friend said, I need a little space right now...say, who is that guy anyway?" Clifford asked, looking over at Lips, who blushed a little.

"Oh, that's Lips. He plays trumpet in our band," Dr. Teeth answered. "He's usually missing whenever you decided to stop by and hang with us."

"Oh, so you're Lips. I've heard a lot about you," Clifford said.

"Well, the band has told me a lot about you, too," Lips stated. "They told me that you're good at playing instruments other than the bass, like bongos and maracas."

"Yeah, I can't deny that, but I'll be honest; I have been thinking about taking up the trumpet," Clifford admitted.

"Really?" Lips could feel his face turning a little pink. "W-well, if you want, I could...teach you sometime," he stammered.

"I'll keep that offer in mind," Clifford said, grinning at the trumpeter, who looked away a bit to hide his blushing.

"So Clifford, what brought to my show? You asking to star was a bit unexpected on my part, but something tells me vous planned it," Miss Piggy pointed out.

Clifford took a deep breath and stated, "Well, I'll be honest with you, Piggy. Despite how well I'm doing in the modeling industry, I kind of miss working with the Muppets. So I came here to ask if I could work on the show in any way, so I could be around my old friends again."

Rizzo gasped and quickly said, "Hey, we have quite a couple openings! If you're any good at writing, you could work me me, Pepe, and Gonzo. But if you'd prefer to pursue music more, you can work with the band. I'm sure they'd love to have you around."

"Sí, sí, you can work with us definitely, okay," Pepe said.

"Now hold on, our executive producer, Kermit, has the final say," Piggy reminded the rat and prawn. "Kermit, what do you think? Should we let Clifford back into the Muppet family?"

A camera panned on Kermit, who was silent for a few seconds, tapping on his chin, before saying, "Well, despite being gone for quite a while, Clifford, you haven't really LEFT the Muppet family. So, I'm going to have to say...you're welcome back to work with us again!"

The audience and Muppets cheered loudly, making it feel like the room was shaking for a bit. After the show was officially over, Kermit went up to Clifford and patted him on the shoulder, "Welcome back, Clifford."

"It's great to be back, Kermit," Clifford stated, still smiling.

 **So Clifford has made a return to the Muppets! At long last! (At least in my fiction universe)**

 **And Zoot reveals his situation to his sister, Zoeysha, who gives him a warning regarding how his friends will react to his condition.**

 **How will Zoot's friends react once he reveals his bizarre situation? Will they be as cool with it as Zoot hopes? Or disgusted by it like Zoey warned?**

 **Will Zachariah find out? Will he really pressure Zoot to get his ovaries removed?**

 **What will happen behind the scenes of Up Late with Piggy now since Clifford is in the mix? Why was Lips behaving so oddly when he saw him?**

 **What will happen next for the Muppets in this story? Find out in the next chapter!**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or review!**


	9. Chatting with Clifford

After the show, some of the Muppets started prepping up to head home, but many others were heading over to Rowlf's Tavern for an after party to celebrate Clifford's return.

Zondra had just entered the studio, having been out in town all day, gripping a folder, when she nearly ran into the purple Muppet.

"Whoa, sor-," Clifford started saying until he saw the Muppet, where he froze, his eyes open very wide. "Darci? You work here too?" he asked, a weird squeak in his voice.

Zondra slapped her hand on her forehead, muttering, "Oh great this again" before saying, "No, it's Zondra actually. Her twin sister. I think she may have mentioned me to you once."

Clifford relaxed and said, "Oh! Zondra! Hey, I think I remember you from Jim Henson Hour. You, Chip and Ubu used hacked the show twice."

"And we would've done it a lot more if Jim Henson Hour hadn't been cancelled," Zondra laughed. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just got a job here. So, you're going to be seeing me around here a lot," Clifford stated. "So, about Darci, is she still…"

"Hating on men, bears, and rats? Somewhat; she's trying to be more tolerant," Zondra explained. "But she's not doing too good at that either."

Clifford shook his head and said, "I'll never understand that girl's grudge against me, Bill, Bobo an Rizzo. So, what's your job here?"

"Oh, I'm somewhat the new branding guru here. I try to add relevant things to the show, and I manage most of the media, such as social media and news media to check what's going on in the world," Zondra explained. "I worked really hard checking sites after what happened a few nights ago to Zoot."

"Oh, I heard about that! I didn't see the show, but I heard it was bad. Is he okay now? I mean, I saw him in the band stand, but I can never be sure about that dude, you know," Clifford asked.

"Pretty much, but he seemed pretty nervous for the last few days. I think he's hiding something. Something he doesn't want us to know," Zondra said, remembering how Zoot freaked out about someone possibly taking pictures of him or something.

"Oh really?" Clifford said, stroking his goatee and looking towards where the saxophonist was standing. "Do you have any theories on what it is?"

"No, but he came back from the hospital with a file of some sort, asking where Honeydew was," Zondra stated. "I was worried he was actually going to sue him like his siblings wanted him to, but Bunsen's mood seemed normal, so I don't think it was a lawsuit."

Before Clifford could ask anymore questions, Pepe ran up to them and said, "Clifford, we got to get going to Rowlf's Tavern, okay! I don't want someone to take the table I reserved for me, you, and Rizzo, okay."

"Alright, Pepe. I'm coming. I'll catch you later, Zondra," Clifford said, following the prawn out of the room.

"See ya, Clifford!" Zondra said, making her way to her desk and opening the folder.

At the bar, the Muppets were all chatting with each other, talking about the show, their weekend plans, and future skits to put on the show. Clifford was sitting at a table with Rizzo and Pepe, talking about memories from Muppets Tonight.

"Man, you tried so hard to win over Paula Abdul!" Rizzo laughed.

"Yeah, but I'm over her now. I was young, Rizzo. I thought she was gorgeous...well, she's still gorgeous but I respect boundaries more now," Clifford stated.

"Yeah, yeah," Pepe said, his eyes drooping. "I remember how she...made you and Rizzo kiss on that show. That was so funny..."

"Pepe, that's one of my Muppets Tonight flashbacks I've been kind of trying to forget," Clifford told the prawn, who laughed in response.

Clifford shook his head and whispered to Rizzo, "He has a really weak alcohol tolerance, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, it's funny sometimes, but he can be a little weird drunk. Fortunately, he's the 'I love you' guy and not the 'I hate you' guy," Rizzo stated.

Clifford nodded as Lips walked over to their table. "Would it be alright if I sat with you?" he asked.

"Sorry, Lips, we got this table first, so…" Pepe started saying until Clifford cut him off. "Pardon Pepe, he's a little drunk."

"A little? If that's a little, I'd hate to see what he's like after a lot," Lips said, sitting next to Clifford. "So...you know the band?"

"Yeah, we're cool friends. Though for a while, things were pretty bitter between me and Floyd, but that was only because he THOUGHT I was flirting with Janice," Clifford stated.

Lips shook his head, "God forbid if you flirt with Janice. Floyd gets irked easily. Even more so if he finds out one of his friends dated Janice before he did."

"You mean Zoot?" Clifford asked.

"Actually, I was referring to Dr. Teeth. Floyd knew about Zoot and Janice," Lips said. "I don't know much about their relationship, but one day, Zoot lost his spark for Janice."

"Then he's still single?" Clifford asked.

"Actually he's…" Lips started saying until he stopped himself. "No, I shouldn't say. Not yet."

"Say what?" Clifford asked.

"It's not important," Lips lied.

"I don't know man, it _sounded_ important," Clifford said.

"It's not important!" Lips half-shouted, catching the attention off a few other Muppets, who looked over to see what was up.

"Okay, okay, relax. I was just curious," Clifford apologized quickly as the Muppets looked away from the small group.

Lips sat back in his chair and thought, "Gee, Doc didn't tell me Clifford was nosy."

"Say, where is Zoot anyway?" Clifford asked, looking around the bar.

"He's at that table with Dr. Teeth," Rizzo said, pointing at a booth where the keyboardist and saxophonist were sitting very close to each. "They're very close, more so than I thought."

"Maybe they're the closest friends in the band," Clifford assumed.

Lips felt the urge to burst out laughing at that statement, knowing it wasn't true, but he didn't want to drop hints about Zoot and Dr. Teeth's relationship.

Pepe however, let out a loud laugh. "Friends? I doubt they're JUST friends, okay," the prawn stated. "They're too close to just be friends. They have to be dating."

"What makes you think that?" Lips asked, his hands twitching a bit as he sipped his drink.

"Well, when you were telling me and Rizzo your story about what happened when the band was in Vegas, you stated that Dr. Teeth and Zoot were still in the hotel room when you went to go get them to stop Animal from gambling your stuff away, okay. What were they doing while they were alone?" Pepe asked.

Lips choked on his drink and coughed, getting everyone else's attention again. He could feel his face turning red, from both choking and from Pepe's question. He was about to respond when Clifford said, "Okay, Riz, I think Pepe's had enough. He's starting to act weirder than usual."

Rizzo grabbed the prawn and dragged him out of the bar, leaving Clifford and Lips alone at the table.

"Thanks for getting him out of here. He was making me nervous with that last question," Lips said.

"No problem. I'm sorry for Pepe being like that. That's one of the things about him I can't stand," Clifford said. "What would've been your answer, though?"

Lips shrugged and said, "I don't know. I don't really know about Dr. Teeth and Zoot's relationship with each other."

"Cool...but what if Pepe was right?" Clifford asked.

Lips froze a bit, surprised by this question, but he took a deep breath, "I'd be cool with it, because I'm not the type of person to judge someone when it comes to sexuality. If that's who they love, it's who they love. There's no changing it."

Clifford grinned and said, "I was hoping you'd say that. I'm a pretty open-minded guy, myself, but then again, I have to be since I'm bi."

Lips jumped and asked, "You're bisexual?"

"Yeah, I never told anyone though, mainly because I never had a reason," Clifford explained.

"Well, that's probably because as long as you've been with the Muppets, they've only seen you with a girl. Nobody probably would've guessed that you dated guys," Lips said.

"Yeah, I dated some guys, but not many," Clifford admitted, looking over at Dr. Teeth and Zoot's table again to see the two musicians were gone.

"Hey, where'd they go?" he asked, looking around the bar seeing no sign of the two Muppets.

Lips looked as well. The two band members were missing. "They probably went home," he assumed.

"Good plan. I think I'll head home too," Clifford said getting up from his seat. "It was nice talking to you, Lips."

"It was nice talking to you too," Lips said, watching as the Rastafarian left. He smiled to himself and thought, "Not bad for a first conversation. Awkward, but not bad."

At the Electric Mayhem's house, Dr. Teeth and Zoot got home first, where the former had the latter pinned up against a wall in a passionate kiss.

Zoot moaned as their lips overlapped against each other's, his body trembling a bit, the only thing keeping him from collapsing was Dr. Teeth's arms wrapped around his waist and his arms wrapped around Dr. Teeth's neck.

At some point, the ended up in Dr. Teeth's bedroom, Zoot not at all sure exactly how they got there, too overcome by Dr. Teeth's "romancing". Finally, when their mouths parted, Zoot was laying on Dr. Teeth's bed, his lover over him, both of them breathing heavily.

Zoot looked around for a second until he spotted the open door to the bedroom. He looked into his boyfriend's eyes for a few seconds before whispering, "Lock the door."

Dr. Teeth grinned at his blue partner before getting up to do so.

 **Well, seems like Dr. Teeth and Zoot will be having some fun, heh-heh.**

 **Why was Clifford so curious about what was going on with Zoot when he was talking with Zondra?**

 **Why was he curious about what Lips nearly said about Zoot and Dr. Teeth being together?**

 **Does Pepe really know about Dr. Teeth and Zoot dating? Or was he just being ridiculous because he was drunk?**

 **Hopefully we'll get the answers to some of these questions in the next chapter!**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


	10. Early Symptoms

A few weeks later, the offices of Up Late with Miss Piggy was operating as usual, everyone going about, trying to get ready for the show to occur later that night.

Dr. Teeth entered the office, grinning, while looking at a small blue box in his hands. The ring he ordered for Zoot had just come in earlier that morning, later than he had estimated. Dr. Teeth had made plans to propose to his boyfriend later that evening in the park, where they would hopefully be alone so nobody could spy on them.

Unless Zoot was too tired to walk around town that night; the saxophonist had been getting tired pretty easily nowadays. It was normal for Zoot to take naps during the day, but lately, he was just got sleepy easily. Sometimes, he'd be too fatigued to play saxophone!

Janice said Zoot's aura looked normal and as far as Dr. Teeth was concerned, Zoot has been getting between 8 and 10 hours of sleep, so it wasn't from lack of sleep at night. In all honesty, the keyboardist was starting to worry about the saxophonist.

At that moment, Scooter walked by Dr. Teeth and saw the ring box in his hand, where the young Muppet stopped and gasped, "Is that what I think it is?"

Dr. Teeth nodded and said, "Yep, it came in this morning. I had to be very careful opening it, since some Muppets I live with can be a bit nosy."

"Can I see it?" Scooter asked, curious how the ring looked.

"Sure, but let's isolate ourselves first. I don't want anyone to become suspicious as to why I got a new ring that I'm NOT wearing on my hand for once," Dr. Teeth said.

Dr. Teeth and Scooter went into an empty hallway, where the former opened the small box and showed it to the orange Muppet, who gasped. As Dr. Teeth had described a few weeks ago, it had a silver band and a sapphire in it, but he had left out so many details! The band was very sleek looking and had small music notes printed on it, and in the crest area keeping the blue jewel in place, was two saxophone shapes connected by the mouthpiece and base of the saxophone, forming somewhat of a heart shape around the gem, which was also heart-shaped.

"Wow! That's very impressive! I'm sure Zoot will love it! But out of curiousity...exactly how much did that ring cost. It looks expensive," Scooter asked.

"$600," Dr. Teeth answered flatly, but then he lit up and exclaimed "But it'll be worth it to see the happy look on Zoot's face once I propose to him with it!"

"Well, like I said, I'm sure he'll be pleased," Scooter said, as Clifford came down the hall.

"Who'll be pleased?" the purple Muppet asked, joining the conversation.

"Oh, er," Scooter stammered when Clifford saw the ring, "Hey! That's a sweet ring! Who's it for?"

"Um...my partner," Dr. Teeth replied, tugging at his shirt.

"Really? Wow, Doc, I didn't know you were dating anyone," Clifford said. "With a ring like that, I doubt the love of your life will say no. But if they do, they just lost the chance at having a groovy husband."

"Yeah, I hope they'll say yes," Dr. Teeth said. "But can you do me a favor and keep this ring secret. I don't want it slipping out among the crew, because it'll eventually make it's way to my love and the surprise will be ruined."

"Alright, I can do that," Clifford said. "Good luck proposing, Doc." And with that, the Rastafarian was gone.

"Whew! That was close! Good thing Clifford can keep a secret. So when are you going to pop the question to Zoot?" Scooter asked.

"Tonight, at the park," Dr. Teeth stated. "That is, if Zoot isn't too tired to go for a night walk."

"Well, I'll wish you the best of luck," Scooter said, walking back into the office.

"Thanks, I think I'll need it," Dr. Teeth said, closing the ring box and clutching it, his hand shaking a bit. "Dear Jim, I hope I'll get to do it."

Meanwhile, Zoot was lying down on the sofa in the band's hangout, trying to catch some sleep, but he couldn't. His stomach was bothering him a bit. He remembered that after he ate breakfast, he felt fine; on the ride to work, he felt fine; before lunch, he felt fine; but after lunch, he felt a bit nauseous. He wasn't sure if it was because Swedish Chef did something weird with some of the food or if he ate too fast, but he felt a little sick. He clutched his stomach and groaned softly, hoping the weird feeling would pass.

Lips, who was sitting in a chair near him, looked up from a book he was reading and asked, "You okay, Zoot? You've been like that for the last couple of minutes."

"I'm fine," Zoot lied. "I think lunch is disagreeing with me."

Lips nodded, "Hmm, maybe Chef did something with the food. I'll have to ask him what it was later."

"Yeah, that might be it," Zoot agreed, flipping over to his side to look at the trumpeter.

"You mentioned you had a doctor's appointment today. Why?" Lips asked, curious about Zoot's appointment.

"Yeah, I just need to meet with a doctor of some sort to double check on some things and then I'll be free...unless I break an arm or if someone else in the band gets hurt and I have to tag along," Zoot explained.

Lips frowned and said, "When we asked if everything was good with you after you got out of the hospital, you said everything was cool and failed to mention the second visit to the hospital."

"Trust me, Lips, I'm fi-," Zoot started saying, when the sick feeling in his abdomen suddenly worsened. He immediately sat up and groaned, clutching his stomach.

Lips stared at the saxophonist and said, "I'm starting to think it wasn't the food."

Zoot covered his mouth as nausea started to spread throughout his body and suddenly, he bolted out of the room, causing Lips to jump.

Zoot ran down the hall, going by Bunsen and Beaker, causing the two scientists to jump and prompting Bunsen to ask, "Zoot! What is the matter? Why are you in such a rush to get somewhere?"

Zoot didn't answer because he had just entered the bathroom, went into the nearest stall, locked the door, and threw up into the toilet. Bunsen, Beaker and Lips all entered the room to hear the sound of the blue Muppet vomiting, prompting Lips to bang on the door, asking, "Zoot! You okay in there?"

"I just threw up, Lips, what do you thi-!" Zoot started shouting but he was cut off due to upchucking again.

"Oh dear, this doesn't look good," Bunsen said, Beaker nodding in agreement.

At that moment, Clifford, Gonzo, and Swedish Chef all entered the bathroom.

"We saw Zoot run in here. Is he alright?" Clifford asked.

Zoot threw up into the toilet again, grossing out the three Muppets. Clifford shook his head and said, "Guess that answers my question."

"What happened?" Gonzo asked.

"I don't know! Zoot was fine all morning, but after lunch, he began to feel really sick," Lips explained. He looked at Swedish Chef and asked, "Did you do anything different with the food today that could've caused Zoot to get sick?"

Swedish Chef shook his head and waved his hands no, "Nej , gjorde jag mat som jag brukar gjorde det." [No, I made the food as I usually made it.]

Lips sighed and said, "Maybe it's a bug going around."

"Oh, I doubt it. If there was a stomach flu going around, we all would've had it at some point," Bunsen stated. "Lips, you go to Dr. Teeth and tell him what happened; Gonzo, you tell Kermit the same message; Clifford and Swedish Chef, you just go somewhere far away from the bathroom. Beaker and I would like to converse with Zoot alone."

Lips and Gonzo nodded, running out of the room to find their bosses; Swedish Chef quickly left to go to the kitchen to check if any of the food had expired to see if that was why Zoot was sick;

Clifford slowly left the bathroom and took one last look at Zoot's stall before the door slammed shut.

"Now since we're alone, Zoot, can you answer some questions for me," Bunsen asked the saxophonist.

Zoot took a few deep breaths, checking to see if the sickness was gone, and when his stomach wasn't bothering him anymore, he replied, "Yeah, I think I'm fine for now. Hopefully long enough to answer your questions."

"Oh good, now, for starters; you have another appointment with the hospital today, right?" Bunsen asked.

"Yeah. I'm meeting with some specialist to discuss my ovaries situation," Zoot explained.

"So you are, but Zoot, while you're there, you might want to inform your doctor of this occurrence," Bunsen stated.

"I'm sure it's a bug, like Lips said," Zoot said.

"While that might be a probable cause, I'm thinking otherwise. Now another question, and this is kind of personal," Bunsen said.

Zoot froze and asked, "How personal?"

"Sex life personal," Bunsen answered.

Zoot slammed the back of his head against the stall wall and groaned, "What do you need to know?"

"Did you have sex recently? Like around a month or less ago?" Bunsen asked.

Zoot thought hard, trying to think, when he had brief flashbacks of his drunkenly romantic night with Dr. Teeth a few weeks ago. "Yeah, a few weeks ago. What does this have to do with anything?"

"A few weeks ago, huh? Zoot, have you had any other symptoms earlier? Like fatigue, frequent urination?" Bunsen asked.

"Yeah, I've very tired lately. More so than I usually am," Zoot answered. "What are these symptoms for?"

"They're the early symptoms of pregnancy," Bunsen stated.

Zoot froze again, processing the scientist's words, before standing up in the stall, flushing the toilet, and walking out, his skin a lighter shade of blue. "No...no, no, doc, don't joke about stuff like that. You're really freaking me out."

"I'm not joking, Zoot. I think you may have gotten yourself pregnant," Bunsen told the Muppet.

Zoot shook his head slowly, mumbling "no" to himself several times, gradually going faster and louder by the second, where he eventually began shouting, "NO! NO! NO! THERE'S NO WAY! NO WAY NO HOW YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT THAT! I CAN'T BE!"

"Zoot! Calm down! You'll attract attention this way, and I'm sure you don't want anyone to overhear this. Especially with that "mole" still possibly around here," Bunsen informed the saxophonist.

Zoot was still shaking his head and leaned against a wall, slumping down to the floor, sobbing, "Dear god, if the others find out, they'll...oh man, I don't even know."

Bunsen and Beaker were pretty taken aback by Zoot's emotional state, having never seen the saxophonist cry before. Beaker tapped on the side of his head for a few seconds before meeping, "Mee-mi meep me-mo meep-meep."

"What'd he say?" Zoot asked, not understanding Beaker's odd language.

"Beaker says that we're just 'assuming' you're expecting. That doesn't mean you actually are," Bunsen translated. "Listen, when you see the doctor today, get them to test you for pregnancy. Then, you'll know for sure. Don't rely on my theory."

Zoot took a deep breath and said, "I'll do that when I see the specialist. They'll probably be the one to figure it out." The saxophonist stood up and added, "If you're right, I'll let you know first. As for everyone else, I'm not sure."

"I highly advise you to tell your partner after me. After all, it is their offspring. Then, you two can decide what to do about the baby together," Bunsen suggested.

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind," Zoot said, leaving the bathroom.

To the blue Muppet's surprise, he saw Zondra walking away, gripping a glass cup.

"Uh, Zondra?" Zoot said, getting the Goth Muppet's attention.

She turned around and asked, "Yes Zoot?"

"Um, if you don't mind me asking," Zoot started, staring at the glass cup in her hand. "What are you doing with that cup?"

Zondra looked at the glass and said, "Oh! I found it lying on the ground outside the bathroom door, so I thought someone dropped it...actually I heard someone drop it and quickly exit this hall before I showed up. Almost like they didn't want to get caught."

Zoot froze yet again, knowing that when someone wants to listen in to a conversation going on in another room, they used a glass cup to listen in. Could it be possible someone was eavesdropping on him and Bunsen?

Lips, Gonzo, Swedish Chef and Clifford were the last known Muppets near the bathroom. Lips and Gonzo obviously left to find Dr. Teeth and Kermit, and Chef seemed to be in a hurry somewhere, possibly to the kitchen, but Clifford...he was a little slow walking out, as if he was _hesitant_ to leave. Could he...no, Clifford's not the type to do that...or is he?

Before Zoot could think longer, his phone's alarm went off, indicating that it was time for him to head to his doctor's appointment. Looks like he'll have to think on this later.

 **Well, Dr. Teeth is getting ready to propose to Zoot, and Zoot is showing early symptoms of pregnancy!**

 **Is Zoot really pregnant or is it a flu like Lips thinks?**

 **If he is expecting, how will Dr. Teeth and his friends react once he tells them?**

 **Will he say yes when Dr. Teeth asks him to marry him?**

 **Who was listening in on Zoot and Bunsen's conversation in the bathroom?**

 **Was it the "mole" Bunsen mentioned that leaked private info about the Muppets a few weeks back? Who is it?**

 **Find out the answers to most of these questions in the next chapter!**

 **Please Follow, Favorite and/or Review!**


	11. More Surprises

At the hospital, Zoot was trembling, still thinking about what Bunsen said. "I can't be pregnant, no man, I just can't be," he muttered to himself.

Then, his cell phone, prompting Zoot to answer it, hoping whatever was messaged to him would take his mind off what was possibly wrong with him. It was a text from Dr. Teeth.

"Lips told me what happened. If you don't feel well to go out tonight, we can reschedule it for another night. I don't want to pressure you to go out if you're sick."

Zoot sighed and texted back, "Don't worry. I'm a-okay. I'm sure it was just something I ate that caused me to become sick. We might still be able to go out. Besides, I'm meeting with a doctor anyway, so I'll ask her what was it that caused it."

Dr. Teeth replied immediately, "That's good to hear! Hope it's nothing serious. I'll look forward to seeing you in the park tonight. Love ya. 3"

Zoot smiled, "Love you, too. 3"

Then, a doctor walked up to Zoot and said, "Mr. Simms?"

Zoot looked up from his phone and said, "Yeah?"

"I'm Dr. Bridge, the specialist called here to help with your…'situation'," the doctor stated.

The doctor led the Muppet down a hall and into an examination room. Zoot sat on the examination table as the doctor looked through the papers about Zoot's situation.

"Well, Mr. Simms. As far as I can tell, I believe it'll be an easy task to have your ovaries removed, though it may leave a scar, but other than, it will be a safe procedure," Dr. Bridge said, looking at the ultrasound scan.

Zoot sighed and said, "That's good to hear, doc, but…"

The doctor looked up from the papers and looked at Zoot questioningly, "But?"

Zoot groaned, rubbing his hands on his face, not sure how to explain this situation. "Listen, a few weeks ago...I had intercourse with my boyfriend and I think he may have gone into...that particular hole without realizing it. We were pretty drunk at the time so I don't think he noticed."

The Dr. Bridge's widened. "Oh."

"And well, earlier this afternoon...I threw up. My friend Bunsen Honeydew, who's a scientist, says that it may have been morning sickness...so I think I may have gotten myself pregnant," Zoot explained.

The doctor nodded and said, "Okay, we'll just do an ultrasound on you to know for sure."

Dr. Bridge then left the room for a few moments and returned with the machine and a jar of petroleum jelly. "Now, I just need you to expose your abdomen and ly on your back so I can rub this jelly onto your stomach."

Zoot unbuttoned his shirt and exposed his stomach, then laid down on the table. The doctor took some petroleum jelly from the jar and rubbed it on Zoot's belly, which caused him to feel a slight chill on his bare felt skin. He jumped a little and gritted his teeth.

"Sorry, I should've warned you that it was going to be cold," Dr. Bridge said, before grabbing the sensor and turning the machine on. She then gently put the sensor on Zoot's abdomen and began observing the screen, which was out of Zoot's sight.

After a few moments, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "What is it?" Zoot asked, a little wary about her reaction.

"By god, Zoot...Bunsen was right. You ARE pregnant!" she gasped.

Zoot's own eyes widened, his body immediately going stiff from the shock of this bit of news. "How can you tell from the image?"

Dr. Bridge turned the screen towards Zoot and pointed at the image, which showed the inside of Zoot's ovaries. There was a black circle in the middle of the white area in the image. "You see that black circle. That's the baby."

Zoot covered his mouth with his hand, gasping, before lying back on the table, where tears started dripping from his eyes. "Oh god, what are the other guys going to say about this? What should I do?"

Dr. Bridge turned the machine off and said, "Well, you could get an abortion. It's not too late at this point in the pregnancy and I'm sure it'll be safe for you to have one. However, if you want to keep the baby, you might want to inform your partner about it."

Zoot sat up, buttoned his shirt, nodding at what the doctor was saying, "Yeah, I'll probably tell him tonight. I'll get back to you next week about what we're going to do about this."

"In that case, I'll print an image of the ultrasound for you to show him as evidence that you're telling the truth in case he doesn't believe you," Dr. Bridge said, printing the image from a computer.

She gave Zoot the image and after he set up his next appointment, the blue Muppet quickly left the hospital and he went on his way back to work. Along the way, Zoot could still feel tears filling his eyes. He couldn't stop thinking about how Dr. Teeth was going to react to this bit of news.

Would he be happy for him? Would he be shocked? Would he be angry? So angry that he'll leave Zoot?! Zoot didn't want to lose Dr. Teeth. And what about his other friends? Sure, Bunsen and Beaker wouldn't bat an eye at the news, but everyone else might be in for a surprise. Will they see Zoot as a freak? Will they not want to hang out with him anymore? Will he lose his job?! And what about his siblings? Zachariah will fly all the way to LA and destroy him if he found out about this! Or Dr. Teeth at least since he's the one that caused it to happen!

Zoot shook his head, trying to get his worries to go away, but they kept crawling back. He could get an abortion, but what if he did and Dr. Teeth found out that he WAS pregnant? What if Dr. Teeth DID want a baby and Zoot ruined their first chance to have one? What if this prompted Dr. Teeth to leave him?! Zoot could feel tears pouring down his face and he began sobbing. He wasn't sure what to do, but he knew what he had to do first; tell Dr. Teeth.

Later that evening, after the show, Dr. Teeth was getting ready to head out to the park to meet up with Zoot, who called and said that he wouldn't be able to make it to the show, which kind of surprised Dr. Teeth since Zoot assured him in a text that he was completely fine.

"What happened on his appointment that caused him to be unable to perform tonight?" Dr. Teeth wondered, but he decided he'll ask Zoot about it on their date. He grabbed the ring box and opened it, taking one look at the beautiful piece of jewelry. "Man, he's going to love this!"

He closed the box and shoved it into his pocket before exiting the room. As he walked through the office, he saw Clifford getting his own stuff packed up and ready to leave. When the purple Muppet saw the keyboardist, he hollered, "Yo Teeth!"

Dr. Teeth looked over at Clifford and said, "Hey Clifford! What's happening?"

"You going to propose to the love of your life now?" Clifford asked.

Dr. Teeth pulled the ring box out of his pocket and held it up for Clifford to see. "I'm going to do it in the park, hopefully when nobody is around. Don't want any publicity about it."

Clifford nodded and said, "Well, good luck. Let me know how it goes tomorrow. I'll be heading back to my place for the night to get some work done. Who know being a co-writer for the show would involve so much work!"

Dr. Teeth laughed, "I assumed it did! I've heard Rizzo and Pepe complain about it sometimes, but Gonzo doesn't seem to have much of an issue with it."

Clifford laughed too and said, "Well, I'll just be on my way. See ya tomorrow, Doc."

"See ya, Clifford!"

Later that evening, Zoot was sitting on a park bench in the park, shaking a bit, not completely sure how to tell Dr. Teeth about his predicament. Then, he heard his voice holler, "Hey Zoot!"

Zoot looked over to see his boyfriend walking up to him, a big grin on his face as usual. Zoot stood up, trying to hide his fear and stress by forcing a small smile and greeted his lover with a kiss.

The two sat on the bench, where Dr. Teeth said, "It's a beautiful night."

Zoot nodded, not sure what else to say.

Dr. Teeth looked over at Zoot and asked, "Say, what happened on your appointment that caused you to not be able to come in for the show?"

Zoot took a deep breath and said, "It's...a little hard to explain."

"Well, do you think you can try to simplify it?" Dr. Teeth asked, curious as to what happened.

Zoot thought hard about what to say. "Remember how a few weeks ago I need an ultrasound on my abdomen the day after the incident with Bunsen's machine?"

Dr. Teeth nodded, "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, when I said I was okay...I wasn't being completely truthful," Zoot said, remember his response to Dr. Teeth's question about whether he was okay.

Dr. Teeth's eyes widened and he grabbed Zoot's hand, "There's nothing seriously wrong with you is there?"

Zoot shook a bit and he stammered, "Y-yes and no...You see, um, this'll sound weird but...apparently I've had a pair of...ovaries inside me for all my life."

Dr. Teeth's eyes grew even wider and he asked, "Aren't ovaries usually inside of women?"

Zoot nodded and went on, "The doctor thinks the reason why I didn't notice them before is because they've been infertile, but Bunsen's invention may have made them fertile. I told him about this situation, by the way."

"Makes sense, I mean, he probably should be aware that his machine worked..wait, then what happened today with the doctor? You're not...dying are you?" Dr. Teeth asked, gripping Zoot's hand some more.

Zoot shook his head, saying, "No, no, no. I'm not. Um, do you remember how a few weeks when we had sex because we were really drunk?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, like Lips told you, I threw up earlier, and when Bunsen and Beaker found out, they told me that it may have been...morning sickness. And when I went to the doctor, she confirmed that it was. Doc...I'm pregnant. I have a baby growing inside me." Zoot finished his statement.

At the sound of that, Dr. Teeth covered his mouth with his hands and looked Zoot in the eyes for a few moments before looking down at his abdomen. "Oh god," he gasped. "Zoot, I-."

Before Dr. Teeth could finish speaking, Zoot jumped up from the bench and started running away. "Oh god! He's freaked out! I freaked him out!" the saxophonist was thinking.

Dr. Teeth jumped up and hollered, "Zoot! Come back!" He chased after his boyfriend for a couple dozen feet before being able to catch up close enough to grab him to keep him from going any further.

He turned Zoot around to face him and he said, "Zoot, what's wrong?"

Zoot, now with tears streaming down from his face, sobbed, "You're mad at me aren't you?! I should've told you weeks ago but I was scared you'd think I was a freak! Oh god, you probably think I'm a freak, don't you? I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner! Please don't leave me."

Dr. Teeth shook his head quickly, saying, "No, no, no man. I'm not mad at you. I don't think you're a freak and I'm definitely not going to leave you. I'm just...a little surprised about this, is all. Your news took my by surprise."

"You're just saying that," Zoot muttered, still trembling.

Dr. Teeth pulled his blue boyfriend into a hug and said, "No, I mean it when I say it. I love you, and this...actually makes me love you even more. I did kind of want us to have kids, just not this soon...or like this."

"But...what about the others?" Zoot asked.

"We're probably going to have to tell them. I'd imagine they'll be just as surprised as I am, but I'm sure they'll be cool with it. However, if any one of them has a problem with it, I'll deal with them personally," Dr. Teeth answered.

"Okay," Zoot said.

Dr. Teeth grinned and said, "Besides, this just makes it more convenient for me to do this."

"Do what?" Zoot asked, confused.

Dr. Teeth released Zoot and took a few steps back, bent down on one knee, pulled out the ring box and said, "Zoot, I've loved you for a very long time, so I do believe it's time I asked you this." Dr. Teeth opened the ring box, revealing the ring he got for Zoot. "Zoot...will you marry me?"

Zoot gasped, cover his mouth with his hands, tears dripping from his eyes again, and he said, "Oh my god, Doc...of course, I'll marry you!"

Dr. Teeth grinned and stood up, removing the ring from the box and slipping it on Zoot's finger. The two Muppets embraced and kissed passionately. At that moment, Zoot was reassured that everything would be okay.

Suddenly, a flash of light went off somewhere a couple feet away from the couple. Zoot and Dr. Teeth immediately broke apart, Zoot asking, "What was that?"

Then, the two heard a voice mutter, "Darn it!" Then a hooded figure ran out from behind a bush and started bolting for the side of the park where the cars were parked.

"Hey, hold it!" Dr. Teeth shouted, going after the stranger.

The mystery person ran towards the parking area and jumped into a black 1990 Chevrolet Corvette. Within seconds, the engine started and the vehicle quickly drove out of its parking spot and sped down the road.

Dr. Teeth stopped at the edge of the park, watching as the car drove away. Zoot caught up with him, a little out of breath, and asked, "Was that...was that a paparazzi?"

Dr. Teeth slowly nodded, "I think it was."

Zoot groaned, "Oh man, it must've been watching us the whole time! It probably recorded everything. Which paper do you think they were involved with?"

"Guess we'll find out tomorrow morning," Dr. Teeth said, worried about what tomorrow's headline in one of the newspapers or magazines was going to be.

 **Well, Dr. Teeth finally proposed to Zoot! And Zoot is in fact pregnant with the good doctor's baby! But just when everything seems like it's going to be okay, a paparazzi had been discovered spying on them and got away!**

 **Who was the mystery reporter? What paper does he work for?**

 **How will the other Muppets take the news about Zoot being pregnant? Or the news about Dr. Teeth and Zoot being a couple?**

 **Will our Muppet couple have a chance to tell them face to face or will they find out in the news?**

 **Find out in the next chapter!**

 **Please Follow, Favorite, and/or Review!**


End file.
